Charlie's Terrible Horrible
by WannabeDragronTamer88
Summary: 5 years have passed since Charlie glitched into the ULTIMATE alternate universe. In those 5 years she's created a life for herself, started a family, and built an empire...Life is good. But when some of her enemies decide to team up against her, she'll have to call on every contact she's made to protect the family she's always wanted...and just might lose. GLITCH SERIES FINALE
1. Diary of a Mad Woman

**Here it is!**

 **The Finale to the Glitch Series!**

 **...Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces high then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

The definition of Glitch is simple and straight to the point: It is a malfunction or defect in a machine or plan.

My name is Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk, and I'm more than a little familiar with the concept of Glitches…

Because I AM one.

There are a lot of faces reading this going…WHAAAA?

Yep. I'm a glitch. I am a defect in the plan, a malfunction…I AM A GHOST.

Okay, not that last one.

I mean, I kind of was when I first showed up, because I didn't exist, but since then (nearly five years ago) I've made a name for myself...or more accurately, I've made a LIFE for myself.

I am a glitch who showed up in a dimension that was altogether unprepared for my arrival. I wasn't in the script…any of them.

I popped up in a universe full of faces and names that I was familiar with and more than fond of…but the characters I loved in theory became living breathing human beings with attitudes and personalities; and not always good ones.

Some people I grew more than fond of; theory became reality and I liked some and cared about many, tolerated a few…and even fell in love with one.

I am a defect.

And as a defect; I had a choice. I could've moped about and bemoaned the malfunction that was ME; I could've hid in the shadows, and helped from the darkness, channeling my inner batman, or I could've allowed myself to wallow in solitude and fade from the world that I was never supposed to be a part of in the first place.

I could've.

But I didn't.

Enter wonky face here.

My name is Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk, and to quote Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility.

To quote the OTHER most influential person in my life as well; When life gets weird, (and it will) shrug, then go with it.

…Thanks Mom.

Out of all my wonderful options; I picked plan I; INTERFERE.

I crash-landed in a world that wasn't prepared for me, and rather than sit back and play spectator, I pulled up my pants and pulled out my megaphone….

And I learned a few things along the way.

I learned that omniscience doesn't mean I can change everything. It doesn't even mean I can change ANYTHING.

I learned that with knowledge comes responsibility and the wisdom to use that knowledge correctly.

I learned that my ability to change things only goes so far as those in the starring roles and THEIR ability to accept that change.

And once I grasped those things…that's when the world changing REALLY began.

And change the world I did.

It boggles the mind to think that I almost went with Plan A.

I can't imagine what would've happened then…I don't even want to try.

I was born Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk and I carved out a place for myself using a spoon and my bare hands…in a world that had no room for me.

And to be honest?

Being a glitch is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

I've never been happier.

…So of course that's when everything really went to crap.

Welcome to the worst 48 hours of my life.

Welcome to….my Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day.

* * *

 **So there's your intro. Chapter Two up in a second. (Is "this is the end" from AVPSY playing in anyone else's head?)**

 **AUTHOR NEWS: I have a tumblr! My username is the same for both this site and tumblr (Heads up, my username has changed if you didn't notice), so hopefully I should be relatively easy to find. The blog itself is titled Ready. Aim. Write. It's pretty much just my opportunity to chat with you guys, and post fun little extras that have to do with the stories I write. ALSO: If you follow me there; you'll have the first look at other new stories, updates and chapter sneak peeks! If you read enough of my work, it might be advantageous to follow me on Tumblr. I just can't wait to interact with you all on a more personal level, so check me out!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite pretty please?**

 **LLAP (Live Long and Prosper)**

 **~CLC~**


	2. The Interview

**Chapter Two!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

Steve Rogers didn't often get a day off. Most days he was busy taking out criminals, and when he wasn't doing that he was running around with his team doing something or another. On his rare days off, he did what any normal person would do…He lounged around in his underwear, watched crap reality TV, and stuffed his face. Privately, of course.

On this particular day, with Hydra no longer an issue, his best friend still MIA but prone to checking in via twitter, and nothing on the agenda for the first time in what felt like years, he did just that. He sat sprawled in the living room of his D.C. apartment, a large bowl of cereal in his hands, America's Next Top Model playing on his TV. It took him nearly five minutes to realize he wasn't as alone as he thought he was.

He jumped nearly a foot in the air when the person sitting to his right coughed loudly to get his attention, and he scrambled for his SHIELD, (and pants,) when he recognized the intruder. He froze though, at the words his intruder spoke. The words hit home, and Steve found himself listening intently, with dawning horror.

It wasn't 30 minutes later that Steve found himself on a private jet, (Stark's jet, to be exact, he borrowed it, after explaining why exactly he needed it, Stark lent it to him gladly,) and headed towards the one person he'd resigned himself to never seeing again. The person who was at this very moment, in grave danger.

* * *

"Myc, you're being ridiculous." Charlie leaned back in her chair with a grimace.

"I'm the one being ridiculous?" Mycroft snorted from where he sat behind his desk. "You're the one refusing to accept a profitable alliance between London and America."

"Myc, it's not that simple." Charlie placed her hands on the edge of his desk. "My company's goals are based on community improvement, not personal financial gain."

Mycroft huffed. "And as much as I admire your business sense and proclivity to be good and honest and kind, that's no way to keep a business in the black! Successful corporations do not make money by doing the right thing. My dear, if you want to go global, you're going to have to become a bit more ruthless."

"And by a bit, I assume you mean a lot?" Charlie grinned wryly. Mycroft smirked, and folded his hands on his desk primly.

"But of course! I would not wish you to be eaten alive."

Charlie shook her head and opened her mouth to continue arguing, but paused when a lanky Irish redhead wearing an expensive navy suit entered Mycroft's office abruptly.

Mycroft opened his mouth to snap at the man, but Charlie raised a hand. "Ian? Why so serious?"

Ian pursed his lips.

"Mr. Holmes surveillance just picked up an individual forcing his way past the third floor secretaries. I predict he's headed this way."

"And why have my guards not informed me of this?" Mycroft snapped, standing abruptly. Charlie stood as well, but slower.

"Is it a friendly?" Charlie asked, eyes narrowed.

Ian winked, ignoring Mycroft's question in favor of answering Charlie's. "Excessively so, according to you." Charlie crossed her arms.

"Who is it?" Mycroft and Charlie asked at the same time.

Ian grinned. "Captain Rogers, Miss."

Charlie coughed, surprised. Then she nodded. "Send him in when he reaches this level, Ian."

"Yes Ma'am." Ian saluted before shutting the door firmly behind him.

Mycroft sent a raised brow in Charlie's direction, and she shrugged. She had no idea what Steve was doing here, let alone how he knew where she was. She hadn't spoken to him in almost five years. What would he want after all this time?

"I apologize for the interruption, Myc." She grimaced.

Mycroft shrugged lightly. "We need a distraction anyway. I do believe this is a most interesting development, do you not agree?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Interesting isn't the word I would use."

"Ma'am? Captain Rogers is here."

Charlie took a deep breathe. She was suddenly, unexplainably nauseous. Best to just get it over with.

"We're ready, Ian."

Charlie clasped her hands behind her back and spread her feet apart slightly, taking the stance of a solider while the door in front of her opened and Steve was revealed. There was something in the stance that calmed her, and she would gladly take all the calm she could get right about then. It had been…years since she'd last seen Steve.

It was the same face; the same golden hair and bright eyes; but the expression on his face was worried, anxious. His clothing was rumpled, and he wasn't wearing any shoes, but he didn't seem to care. He looked determined, relaxing in relief and then in joy once he caught sight of her.

"Kay!" He moved forward, his arms raised as if he were going in for a hug, but Charlie was still too nauseous to brave being squeezed, so she held her hand out for him to shake. He paused, slightly confused, before he dropped both arms and simply accepted her handshake.

"Captain." Charlie addressed him, wincing at the formality in her tone. "You look a little….stressed. May I ask what the hell you are doing here?"

Steve flushed. "You're in danger." He blurted out, eyeing the corners of the room as if some unknown threat were going to leap at her at any moment.

Mycroft and Charlie rolled their eyes. "I'm always in danger, Steve." Charlie shrugged. "That doesn't explain your presence."

Steve fidgeted, then glared at Mycroft. "Who's he? And why are you in London?"

Charlie crossed her arms. "That's really none of your business." She snapped, too nauseous to care if she was being rude or not. "But if I must; this is Mycroft Holmes." Mycroft inclined his head, but didn't hold out his hand. "He's a member of the British government, and we're having a meeting." Charlie further explained. Steve frowned.

"You look familiar." Steve turned to Mycroft, distracted for the moment. "Do you have a brother?"

"I do, actually." Mycroft answered curtly. He wasn't really fond of those types of questions, but ever since Sherlock had been an idiot, they'd come more and more frequently. "If you watch the news, you would know that he faked his death. He jumped off a building?" Mycroft added.

Steve's eyes widened. "Actually, I remember hearing of that. He's been back in London for a while though, hasn't he?"

Mycroft shrugged. "Awhile."

Charlie waved her hands, drawing Steve's attention to herself once more. "Hello? Back to you, interrupting our meeting? I'm in danger, fine. Is that it?" Charlie made a face. She could feel the bile in her esophagus. Gross. "If so, you can leave now."

Steve shook his head. "I have a good source who told me you need help." He winced. "Er…a reliable source, anyway." Then he coughed. "It's worth looking into, at any rate. This source warned me that a few of the major enemies you've made over the years are banding together, and you would be," Here Steve hesitated, then soldiered on, "you would stupid to not accept free help. Then he told me to help you."

Charlie pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "And this source would be?" She asked.

Steve shook his head.

"Figured." Charlie sighed. "Alright," She moved slightly closer to the trashcan. Just in case. "Can you at least tell me who these "enemies" are? I don't feel right accepting assistance like it's five level four villains if we're only dealing with two level threes."

Steve made a face, then shrugged. It's not like he'd ever understood what she was talking about anyway. "I can do that." He agreed. "My source gave me three names. One of them I recognized, the other two, I didn't." Mycroft and Charlie shared a look, then Charlie moved to the door, and nodded. Ian stepped into the room, stepping close to her. Steve shot him a glare, but said nothing.

"Okay. Give me these names." Charlie nodded. The bile was in the back of her mouth now. "Quickly please."

Steve nodded, crossing his arms. "Loki." He started.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "We're best friends. Try again." But she winced. He'd sounded weird on the phone a few months ago…

"Crowley."

"He's under lockdown." Charlie retorted. But then Charlie remembered he wasn't so much anymore... That was the moment when Charlie started to worry. "The third name?"

"Moriarty."

And that was the moment when Mycroft began to worry. "He's dead." Charlie scoffed.

But Charlie was too smart for her own good. Dots were starting to connect…and the picture it was showing wasn't good. She paled, and her stomach roiled. "I think I'm gonna barf." The second the words came out of her mouth, Ian was at her side, a trash can in his hand, and good thing too, because Charlie's lunch came out to meet her. It was decidedly less delicious tasting it for the second time. When her stomach finished heaving, she wiped a hand over her mouth and glared at Steve.

"Alright." She conceded. Had she been the only one at risk; these three level tens would be no problem. But it wasn't just her. There were others who could get hurt. So she accepted Steve's help. And the other offers that were sure to follow once Mycroft got ahold of them: she would accept those too. But she wasn't going to give in without at least a little fight. "Maybe I am in danger." She allowed. "But why would I need your help?"

Steve huffed. "That I can't answer." He moved forward to place a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "But would it hurt to have it? An extra set of hands to help you out and have your back?"

Charlie grimaced, then smiled wryly. "I suppose you're right. Fine. Ian?"

Ian raised a brow.

"What do you think?"

"I think," Ian furrowed his brow, "that tomorrow is soon enough to start. Have them take route 96 to the lair?"

Charlie barked out a laugh. "You read my mind." She leaned over Mycroft to grab a pen and paper from his desk.

"Steve, tomorrow, 9am. There'll be signs; you take the path marked route 96 and I'll meet you there. We'll deal with this then." She handed Steve the paper. Steve eyed the paper. "That make sense?" When Steve nodded, she shooed him away. "Now get." Steve opened his mouth to say more, then huffed and turned.

"And Steve?" Charlie added suddenly. He paused, shoulders tense. "It's good to see you." Steve relaxed, and he turned slightly.

"And you, Kay. You look good." He smiled. "See you in the morning."

Charlie turned to Mycroft as the door closed behind Steve, rubbing the back of her neck wearily. She was too old for this crap. "Myc. What are the odds you haven't yet texted Sherlock?"

Mycroft frowned. "What are the odds that Moriarty is actually dead and not currently out to get you?" He countered.

Charlie made a face. Point. "Alright. The more the merrier, I guess." Charlie penned an address onto Mycroft's desk calendar. "It's the same place I told Rogers, 9am. Tell them route 12."

"Not 96?" Mycroft quirked a brow.

Charlie grinned. "Definitely not."

Mycroft nodded. "They'll be there."

"This isn't mandatory." Charlie felt the need to clarify. "This isn't their fight."

Mycroft pursed his lips. "I do believe I said much the same thing to you, nearly three years ago. Did you take my advice then?" He goaded.

"No." Charlie mumbled.

"They won't take yours either. They will see you tomorrow." Mycroft moved back to his chair. "I do believe it best we postpone this meeting for a later date."

Then Mycroft strode pierced Charlie with a serious stare. "Congratulations." He smiled.

Charlie rolled her eyes, but nodded, and Ian followed her out of the office.

She had the feeling that tomorrow was definitely not going to be a very good day.

* * *

 **Chapters three and four will be up next Monday!**

 **REMINDER: If you're following my blog; Ready. Aim. Write., You may or may not see some extra content, (such as a "What have the avengers been up to since they last saw Charlie previously list,) and fun stuff later on down the road. You'll also get first looks at new chapters, stories, and more. It's the best way to keep up with me and my crazy brain! I have the same username on tumblr as I do here! Hope to see you there!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite, maybe?**

 **LLAP, (Live Long and Prosper,)**

 **~CLC~**


	3. Into The Woods

**Chapter Three!**

 **Where everyone shows up all at once...in the middle of the woods?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"You guys weren't invited!" Steve griped.

Tony hopped out of the SUV with an eye roll. "Kay's in danger and you think we're gonna let you go alone? Psh, yeah right."

"As I recall…you don't even like her." Clint hopped out next. He was in a dandy mood, so dandy it was irritating.

"That was years ago." Tony shrugged. "I didn't expect her to get all butt hurt and run off."

"You were cruel." Thor chastised. He was dressed like the other avengers, in jeans and a t shirt. His was a deep red. He crossed his arms and examined the dark forest in front of them. Tasha and Bruce stood side by side in front of a sign that marked out the designated paths.

"Get over it, Steve." Tasha added dryly. "Kay's important to all of us, plus we're going stir crazy. Just be thankful for the extra hands and let's move on."

"What she said." Bruce agreed. "What route did Kay say we should take?" He asked.

Steve huffed, but moved toward the sign. "96." He pointed to the path straight ahead. "This is it."

"96?" Clint groaned, loudly. When the rest of the Avengers looked at him, confused, he shrugged. "She's really looking forward to seeing us." He added sarcastically. "All right, gang, better get going." He started up the hill, and with surprised looks, the rest of the Avengers followed.

* * *

"Well, well, well. Look what the Cap dragged in."

Charlie smirked at the group that stood in front of her, fresh as a daisy herself in dark wash jeans and a flowy white shirt.

The Avengers, barring Clint who was surprisingly fresh-faced, looked more like drowned rats.

On the opposite of the clearing in which Charlie stood smack dab in the center, John and Sherlock appeared, looking more in line with Clint.

"What..." Tony began, pausing to pull in a deep breath.

"What even….why?" Tony griped, eyeing the scenery around them, an open clearing surrounded by a dark wooded forest. A forest that The Avengers had been hiking in for the past two hours, breaking into the clearing moments before Sherlock and John had. Neither group had yet to acknowledge each other, instead focusing on the smirking young woman standing in the center of the clearing.

"This is my evil lair." Charlie gestured to the field around her. Tony snorted. "What?" Charlie laughed. "Did you think it was going to be easy to find? She shook her head. "That would discount the whole point of having an evil lair." Sherlock snorted, and Clint sent the guy a look. Then he caught sight of John, and he grinned.

"Doctor." Clint sent John a nod that John returned. "Who's your friend?" He asked helpfully.

Steve and the rest of the Avengers stared suspiciously at Clint, who spoke amiably with someone they'd never met.

"Agent Barton, this is my good friend Sherlock Holmes." John introduced, and Clint nodded.

"Any relation to Mycroft?" Steve spoke up suddenly. Sherlock narrowed his eyes but nodded. Steve nodded thoughtfully, then sent Charlie a look. "Interesting friends you have, Kay."

Sherlock frowned, and Charlie winked at him before turning back to the Avengers. "First plot twist; Kay isn't my real name." Tony frowned, insulted.

"Hey!" He argued hotly. "I asked you your name and you SAID-," Charlie rolled her eyes and interrupted him.

"I was in shock and I was trying to say my last name and Okay at the same time and it wasn't working! After that, it just seemed easier." Then Charlie pointed a finger at Sherlock, who was smirking. "And it's not Eden either!"

Sherlock scoffed. He knew that...of course. "So what is your real name then?!" He demanded.

"It's Charlotte." Clint spoke up brightly.

"Actually it's Charlie." John corrected. Clint and John shared a grin, and the rest of the group glared at the two, and Charlie couldn't help herself. She started laughing.

"I am Charlie." She agreed. "I was born Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk, if that helps."

"Kay…Kirk." Bruce nodded. "Makes sense." He moved forward, a box in his hands. He set it down to hold out his hand. "Nice to meet you Charlie." He grinned. Charlie smiled brightly and shook the hand he offered. Then she pointed to the cardboard box.

"What's that?"

It was Thor that answered.

"It was mailed to Stark Tower, received just this morning." He inclined his head. "It's addressed to you." He added.

Charlie frowned. "To Kay?" Thor nodded, and Charlie turned to John, who also held a similar box. "Do you have a similar story?" John grimaced. "But to Eden?" A nod. "You have a return address?"

John nodded. "An army base in Virginia."

"Ours was sent from a certain house of white in D.C." Bruce added.

Charlie frowned and pulled her phone out; tapping on it for a few moments before she sighed. "Change of plans. My lair will have to wait." She began walking into the forest, striding along an unused path. The group followed her reluctantly.

"John, Clint, Stark, and Agent Romanoff, I want you to check out the army base; see if anyone recalls such a package being mailed out. My guess is they won't, but I want to cover all our bases, and any evidence is better than none. See what they have to say. An associate of mine will meet us at the bottom of the hill, he'll accompany you."

"Associate?" Stark asked, stunned. When the Avengers first met Charlie, she'd been young, bright and full of energy. Now, five years later, she was a young woman who carried herself with confidence and spoke with authority. It's like the Avengers didn't even know her.

Charlie froze, and turned to send a smirk Tony's way. "What? You thought I've spent the last five years twiddling my thumbs? Try again."

Charlie turned and began walking, continuing detailing their new plan. "Dr. Banner, Thor, Sherlock and Captain, you'll go with me to check out the second location." The trees fell away mere minutes after they'd left the clearing, to show two silver SUVs idling on the paved road, a young Irish man leaning against one. Charlie raised a hand in greeting, and the man straightened in response. "Ian!" She called out warmly.

"Hey, Mama." He responded. "Nice crew." Charlie rolled her eyes.

"They're like puppies. Follow you around everywhere." She joked, turning back to her "crew".

"For those of you who don't know him, this is Ian. He's my assistant."

Sherlock squinted his eyes, and the Avengers looked flummoxed.

In their confused silence Charlie turned back to Ian. "You have suit, shoot, bow," Charlie paused with a smirk, "and Clint." Ian nodded with a chuckle.

"Copy that." He nodded. "Do I have an address?"

"On the box." Clint spoke up, reaching for John's box, which he released gladly.

"Rendezvous time?" Ian asked, opening the passenger door for Clint.

"Here, 1700. Got it?" Charlie asked, tossing Sherlock the keys.

Ian beamed. "Yes, ma'am." He saluted before hopping into his SUV.

"Wonderful. Everyone else, with me." Charlie slid into the passenger seat, Sherlock taking the driver's seat with an eye roll, Steve behind her, Thor in the very back row and Bruce behind Sherlock. She smiled at the group. "Let's go!"

* * *

 **So...a look at our current group of peeps, a strange forest, and then a detour...to hopefully get some kind of evidence that will help later.**

 **Can I just complain about how hard it is to write so many big characters all in the same room? It's horrendous. Hopefullly it'll get better as the story progresses. Next chapter is Charlie's group...off to that certain house of white! Maybe the guy who lives there knows Charlie or something? if you've read BUCKY, (which I highly suggest you do so,) you might recognize a name or two.**

 **REMINDER: Check out my blog on tumblr: Ready. Aim. Write. It's under the same username as here! (This is the last time I'll remind unless I post something fun. :))**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite maybe?**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	4. My Date with the President's Daughter

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Sherlock stared straight ahead, hands clenched on the wheel of the SUV.

Charlie smirked and pulled her shirt over her head. "I'm…." She grinned. "I'm suiting up."

Steve sputtered in the seat behind her. "What's the point of changing?" He argued. "You looked FINE."

Charlie scoffed, and straightened her tank top before sliding a blue button up over her shoulders. "Sure, I looked OK." She agreed. "But not to meet with the _president_."

Steve sputtered again and Bruce and Thor shared a look.

"The president of the United States?" Bruce clarified. Charlie just turned to grin at him.

"By the way, Bruce, Thor, our dear driver is Sherlock Holmes." She deflected.

"Jump to my death just kidding I am alive Sherlock Holmes?" Thor asked dryly. Charlie barked out a laugh, and Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"That would be me." Sherlock agreed. "You are Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers." Sherlock rattled off. He shot Charlie a dry look. "The only one I don't know here, is you."

Charlie smiled. "I'm Charlie." She answered simply. "You know me."

"Do I?" He asked dryly.

"Does anyone?" Steve rolled his eyes.

"Steve." Charlie turned in her seat as a thought struck her. "I didn't know you were bringing everyone."

"Neither did I." Steve shrugged. "They overheard it was you I was helping, and, they all jumped in the jet before I could stop them."

Charlie looked to Thor. "That's why you're here?" Thor flushed and shrugged. "It has nothing to do with your brother being on the naughty list?" She pressed good naturally.

"Partially." Thor grimaced. "But also…" He hesitated, "you didn't say goodbye."

Charlie's face softened, and she crawled to the third row so she was sitting opposite Thor. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "You're right. I didn't say goodbye." She winced. "I honestly thought I'd be seeing you soon enough anyway."

"So the five year gap wasn't on purpose?" Bruce asked, and Charlie shook her head, "Definitely NOT!" She agreed. "Life just got crazy." She shot Steve a look.

"I heard about Hydra." Charlie raised a brow when Steve sent her a look. He winced, then shook his head.

"They're blaming it on the Winter Soldier," Steve began, "But it wasn't him, I can promise you that. He's definitely not a threat."

Sherlock from the front snorted. "I was overseas during that current debacle and even I can tell you he's not a threat."

"But you could tell that from the scent of someone's cologne." Charlie rolled her eyes. "That's cheating."

"It's not cheating." Sherlock argued. "It's using all the tools at my disposal."

Charlie just grunted. "Whatever you say, Holmes. And I know he's not a threat, Steve."

Steve relaxed his shoulders. Then he narrowed his eyes.

"Wait. How would you know that?"

Charlie winked. "Now that would be telling."

Steve rolled his eyes and turned to find Bruce and Sherlock deep in discussion about…something, and Charlie and Thor chatting amiably about what Thor'd been up to in the last five years. Steve sighed and rested his forehead against the window.

He had a feeling he was sitting in the calm before the storm…and things were about to get real crazy…real fast.

* * *

"When you said the president," Sherlock spoke stiffly, eyeing the secret service disgustedly. "I was unaware that you were being serious."

Charlie slid her hand into the crook of Sherlock's arm and grinned. "I know."

"But you weren't joking." Thor added disbelievingly.

"I wasn't." Charlie agreed.

"I feel….extremely underdressed." Steve whispered to Bruce.

"That's because we are." Bruce hissed back.

"You're the Avengers," Charlie called over her shoulder. "You're fine." She turned to smile at a tall man with shoulder-length dark hair that was pulled into a bun at the back of the man's head. His suit, earpiece, and dark sunglasses classified him as secret service, but his bright smile made him look less dangerous than he was.

"Mrs.-" The man began, but Charlie shook her head abruptly and the man paused. "It's Charlie to you, Ken." The man pulled off his sunglasses with a smirk.

"Of course."

"Is Justin available?" She asked. Ken nodded, and turned abruptly. Charlie sent the group behind her a smile, and they followed Ken as he led them through the hallways of the white house.

It seemed like forever, but was only a minute or two before Ken stopped in front of two large doors and knocked. Another secret service man answered, and Ken just gestured to Charlie, who smiled and waved. Both doors were open to them then and Charlie stepped into the Oval Office as if she'd been there many times before.

President Case, still in the first year of the first term, was one of the youngest president's America had ever had in office, and was also even with only nine months under his belt, one of the best. His campaign slogan had been "The People's President," and so far he'd lived up to the title. Steve had voted for the guy.

So had Bruce.

Heck, even Sherlock had voted for the man.

The man himself stood in front of his desk, deep in conversation with a young woman who shared the same green eyes and serious expression as the president, but the conversation between the two paused when the president caught sight of Charlie.

He broke into a wide grin and stepped forward to shake her hand warmly.

"Charlie." He beamed. "What a surprise! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."

Charlie shrugged. "Justin. Something came up regarding tomorrow, but a few of my associates had some questions they'd like to ask the mailing staff, so I thought we could chat about any serious concerns now, if you're free?"

Justin smiled and nodded. "Well, that'll do just fine." His eyes moved past Charlie and onto her "associates," and his eyes widened.

Charlie smirked. "Justin, allow me to introduce my associates, Sherlock Holmes," Sherlock inclined his head, "Bruce Banner, Thor Odinson, both men shook Justin's hand, "And Steve Rogers." Justin flushed bright red and seemed hesitant to even touch Steve.

"Captain," He fumbled with his words, "It is such an honor to officially meet you," He turned suddenly, "Elizabeth! Lizzie look who it is!"

The young woman, who'd been leaning against the desk watching with a bemused expression, straightened. "I know, Dad," She rolled her eyes. "I've been here the whole time. I heard everything you heard." Justin reached for his daughter and pulled her forward.

"Captain," Justin began,

"Please," Steve had to smother his smile. Charlie had no qualms and was smiling widely. "Call me Steve."

Justin turned to his daughter with a gleeful expression, and she rolled her eyes again and looked to Charlie, who just shrugged.

"Steve," Justin stressed. "Meet my daughter, Elizabeth." Elizabeth held out her hand and shook Steve's firmly. He nodded. "It's nice to meet you." She greeted.

"Lizzie's a lawyer; has her own firm and everything, and she's only 25!" Justin boasted.

"Dad," Elizabeth tried to intervene, but Justin spoke over her, "She's a great lawyer too, but always so busy! Doesn't even have a boyfriend, she's so busy with work all the time,"

Steve grinned as Elizabeth poked her father firmly in the chest. "Dad!" She scolded. "Quit trying to fix me up with the poor guy, he just got here!"

Steve flushed as Justin sent his daughter a disbelieving look. "Don't try to tell me that you wouldn't want to date him, look at him! He's dreamy."

Elizabeth winked at Steve. "I'm not saying he's not, Dad, I'm just saying I'll procure my own date, thanks."

Steve's ears were burning, and Charlie chose just that moment to intervene. "Justin, as amusing as this is, sorry Steve," She patted Steve sympathetically on the arm, "We do have some work to do. If Ken wouldn't mind sending Sherlock, Bruce and Thor down to the mailing room, you and I could have that chat, and Liz can keep the captain company?" Charlie sent Liz a smirk, Liz just rolled her eyes, and Justin beamed. "Wonderful idea!"

Ken inclined his head towards Sherlock, Bruce and Thor, and they followed him out. Charlie led Justin back to his desk, and Liz suggested a walk in the gardens, which Steve easily accepted.

To…question the woman. Not because she was a babe or anything.

Certainly not.

* * *

 **Justin is my favorite, Liz is a close second, and Steve blushing is one of my very favorite things!**

 **Chapters five and six will be up next Monday, and check out my tumblr (under the same username as here,) for a look at the men who seem to know Charlie the best: Ian, Clint, and John, all of whom you will see in chapter five!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite if you have the time?**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	5. The Fugitives

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"I know something's going on." Tony watched Clint and Ian interact with each other, and he frowned.

"It's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Tasha raised a brow. "Barton." She poked his shoulder and he turned to look at her. "How long have you and Charlie been seeing each other?"

Tony sputtered, eyes wide, and Clint laughed. Then his face turned serious.

"Since April of 2012." He admitted. "At least, that's when we moved in together." Ian snorted, and Tony pursed his lips.

"You're lying." Tony shook his head.

"Actually I'm not." Clint grinned. He turned to Tasha. "But don't worry, I moved out nearly two years ago."

Tasha narrowed her eyes. "How long have you two been working together?" She tried again, and Clint laughed.

"You caught me."

"Since April of 2012?" Tasha clarified, and Clint shrugged.

"About there." He admitted, and Tony breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"You're just coworkers?" He checked, and Clint nodded.

"Yeah." Clint punched Ian lightly in the shoulder. "I also work with Ian here."

"And this guy?" Tony jerked a thumb towards John, who sat comfortably in the third row. "You work with him too?"

"Nope." Clint admitted freely. Tony squinted his eyes.

"So how do you know him?" Tony demanded. "Because I know you know him. You are all too friendly."

"I work with Charlie." John interrupted what was almost a stark-rant. Tony and Tasha turned to eye the man.

John just shrugged. "Well I do." He smiled.

"So Clint works with Ian and Charlie, and you work with Charlie, but not Clint?" Tasha rephrased.

John nodded.

"So you don't work with Ian?" Tony concluded.

"No, I work with Ian." John smirked when Tony groaned and grabbed his head.

"Seriously." Tasha deadpanned. "Who even is Charlie?"

"Charlie is a lot of things." Ian spoke up. "But if you want to know anything more than THAT, I suggest you ask her."

"Let's just say she's been busy." Clint winked, and Ian and John snorted.

Tony and Tasha shared a look, but it was obvious they weren't going to get anything else out of these guys, so they just shrugged and went silent.

The rest of the ride passed uneventfully.

* * *

"Name and rank?"

Tony raised a brow and Tasha smirked. Ian had just pulled the SUV up to the main entrance of a huge army fort, and Tony was quite interested to see how Ian was going to try to get them in. Tasha was quite excited to see the Irish man fail.

"Ian MacDonald, no rank." Ian spoke smoothly. "In the vehicle are Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark," The soldier at the gate raised a brow but said nothing, "and Captain John Watson of the British Army. We have business to conduct on behalf of Captain Charlotte Kirk, currently," The man snapped to attention, interrupting Ian mid-sentence.

"Of course." The soldier agreed. He handed Ian passes and allowed the SUV to pass through the gate in a matter of minutes, and Tony threw up his hands.

"So all you had to do was drop "Charlie's" name, and they let you in?" Tony shook his head.

"Who is this kid?" Tasha crossed her arms.

"If you had an unlimited number of guesses," Clint began,

"And all of eternity to use them," Ian added,

"You wouldn't even get close." John finished with a smirk.

Tasha rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. Shall we split up?"

Ian parked the vehicle. "Wonderful idea. John with Clint and I, we'll talk to incoming, and you and Stark take on outgoing mail?" Ian turned to Tasha, who nodded.

"Wonderful, let's go then. Not a minute to lose." Ian patted John's shoulder and pushed the man forward, and Clint chuckled.

He paused mid-chuckle when he caught the look on Tasha and Tony's face.

"Alright, so it sounds major sketchy." He shrugged.

"And that's an understatement." Tasha snorted.

"But trust me." Clint placed a hand over his heart. "Charlie's good people and she needs our help. Let's do the best we can here and then you can run an interrogation as long as you'd like once we get back to the lair."

Tasha narrowed her eyes and thought it over, then she nodded.

"Alright, fine."

Tony grunted. "Let's just go steal mail."

* * *

"Stealing Mail is actually a federal offense." Tasha spoke up as two marched away from the mailing department.

Tony snorted. "I wasn't actually going to do it. I was just hoping that I could threaten them into giving me what I want."

"Well…it didn't work." Tasha shrugged.

"Oh really? Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't noticed." Tony snorted. Tasha smirked.

"Wait." Tony paused. "Is it really a crime?"

"A big one too." Tasha nodded. "Only the worst of the worst commit a crime like that."

Tasha grinned, and the two continued walking.

Tony glared at the people around him before Tasha whistled softly, and then waved a mailing invoice at him with a raised brow. Tony laughed.

"You're a criminal." He shook his head.

"The worst of the worst." Tasha agreed, but Tony narrowed his eyes. Straight ahead stood two men whose faces looked vaguely familiar. A soldier was escorting them off the fort, and they were arguing profusely.

"Criminals," Tony tilted his head for a moment, thinking.

Then it hit him. He knew those faces.

He made a split second decision, then strode forward. Tasha shot him a confused look, but followed nonetheless.

* * *

"There you are!"

Dean and Sam Winchester shot each other a look.

They knew who the guy was, okay? Everyone knew Tony Stark.

The question was, how did Tony Stark know THEM?

"I've been looking everywhere for you guys." Tony jerked his head towards the woman at his side. "We're done here. Are you ready to go?"

Dean and Sam were momentarily stunned into silence, but the soldier who'd been marching them off base was not. "You know these two?" The guy asked.

Tony snorted. "Do I know them?! Of course I know them, they're with us."

The soldier took an immediate step back. "You're under orders of the Captain?"

Sam shot Tony an interested look. "Yeah. Sure."

Dean grunted. "We're talking Captain-"

"Kirk." Sam shot Dean a look when Dean's eyes widened. Tony nodded once, and Sam's voice grew in confidence.

"We're here under Captain Kirk's orders." He repeated, and the soldier paled.

"I'm so sorry." He practically bowed. "I didn't know. Please continue with…whatever." And the soldier scurried off.

Dean nodded. "Alright then." He turned to Sam. "How does Dylan have pull everywhere?" He huffed.

"Dylan?" Tasha crossed her arms.

"Yeah, er, Captain Kirk?" Sam nodded.

"So that's the name she gave you?" Tony asked with a smirk.

"Are we talking about the same person?" Dean crossed his arms.

"Brown hairs, brown eyes, short, spawn of Satan?" Tony described.

Sam and Dean flinched at the last part. "Yes, Yes, and definitely not." Sam agreed. "What are you doing for her here?"

"We received some mail from here." Tasha explained curtly. "Addressed to her. We're trying to track down the name of the sender."

Dean and Sam looked at one another.

"Stop doing that." Tony ordered.

"Doing what?" Sam crossed his arms.

"Talking to each other with your eyes." Tony shrugged. "It's freaking me out."

"Hey guys!" Clint ran over, a few papers in his hand. "Are you ready to go, or WHOA!" Clint jerked at the sight of the newcomers, and the papers flew everywhere. Clint watched them fall with a glare. Then he turned to the Winchester brothers.

"Sam and Dean right?" He guessed. The two men nodded, and Clint huffed. "Please don't tell me you two got a creepy box addressed to Dylan?"

Sam shrugged, and Dean narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked.

Clint shrugged. "I'm Dylan's best friend. You guys got a creepy box then?"

Dean pursed his lips, but Sam nodded. "Yes we did." He admitted.

Clint sighed heavily. "Then you should probably come with us."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"What's going on?" Sam added.

"Long story short; the Kid's probably in danger." Tony explained.

"And the boxes have something to do with it." Tasha jumped in.

"And we should probably go." Clint grimaced.

"Go? Go where?" Sam asked.

Clint grinned. "Where do you think? To go see the kid."

Sam and Dean shared another look, Tony grunted and started walking away, and the rest of the group followed, the Winchester brothers after a moment bringing up the rear.

* * *

"By the way," Clint turned to the Winchesters after everyone had been settled into the car, Sam and Dean sending John confused looks and mostly ignoring Ian. "Dylan isn't her real name."

Dean snorted. "We knew that," he added sarcastically.

"What IS her real name, though?" Sam asked.

Everyone grinned, but it was Tony that answered.

"Apparently," Tony rolled his eyes.

"It's Charlie."

* * *

 **The Winchester brothers have joined the game! With a box of their own! But Charlie's past just looks more and more murky.**

 **The group is all together next chapter, whoo hoo! (Well, most of the group, heheh.)**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	6. Cabin in the Woods

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"Finally!" Tony beamed as their group made it to the clearing of the woods where'd they'd first started their day. "I can't wait to see what Charlie's evil lair looks like!"

"I want to know what route 96 took us two hours to reach this clearing but route 12 only took," Tasha looked at her watch. "Twelve minutes."

Ian smirked. "Charlie has a sadistic sense of humor. You can tell how much she's looking forward to seeing you by which route she tells you to take."

Tony frowned at that. "And she was really looking forward to seeing us." Clint chuckled.

John smirked but said nothing, and the two newest recruits, simply shared a bewildered look.

Charlie's group had already beat them there; they stood in the center of the clearing, chatting. Steve's face was bright red, and Sherlock looked decidedly amused.

Charlie's arms were crossed and she wore something entirely different from what she'd worn that morning; dark wash skinny jeans and a deep green leather jacket. Thor inclined his head, most likely notifying Charlie that they'd arrived, because she greeted them from over her shoulder, not yet turning around.

"Please tell me you brought something of value back with you." She joked.

Ian raised a brow at Sam, who grinned.

"I dunno." He answered, and Charlie stiffened.

"I suppose that depends on your definition of valuable." Dean added with a smirk.

Charlie whirled around, and beamed, and then all of a sudden she was running forward, and Sam took a few steps in her direction, and then the giant of a man was grabbing her and lifting her into a huge hug, which she returned by wrapping both arms and legs around him.

Steve crossed his arms, Thor narrowed his eyes, and Sherlock simply sniffed. Bruce tilted his head, Tony's eyes widened, and Tasha's shoulders stiffened. Ian and Clint shared a grin. Dean smacked his brother in the arm, and Sam reluctantly put her down, which she used her returned mobility to turn and give Dean a warm hug as well.

"So." Sam said as soon as they finished greeting each other. "Let's see it."

Charlie tilted her head, then she smiled widely and raised up her left hand for the brother's to peruse, very obviously showing off…a wedding ring.

The two groups converged as one around Charlie and the two brothers, all eyeing the rock; a princess cut 2 carat with a halo effect on a simple band. It was gorgeous and understated…and very, very Charlie.

"It's beautiful." Sam complimented.

"It's expensive." Dean added.

"It usually signifies marriage." Tony blurt out.

Charlie's hand fell to her side, and she smiled nervously. "Really?" She joked. "I didn't know that!"

She stepped back, and clapped her hands together, studiously avoiding the fact that everyone's eyes were still focused on the ring adorning her left hand.

"All right; schedule of events is as follows; tour, introductions, Q&A session, and hopefully by then my other half will be here so we can get this whole "bad guys want to kill me" thing on the road."

"This other half being the guy who gave you that?" Tasha inclined her head, and Charlie nodded.

"The very same."

"We get to meet him?" Bruce clarified. Charlie nodded.

"I promise." She put a hand over her heart.

Sherlock snorted. She shot him a look.

He said nothing, simply raising a brow at her…which was worse than if he'd said something. Sherlock always had to be the smartest person in the room, and with the amount of intellect, and well…sass that everyone in that clearing was capable of; well…Sherlock was observing…

And that made Charlie nervous. But she just smiled at the group.

"Shall we begin?"

* * *

Charlie's lair was…impressive. The entrance to the lair was…an outhouse, which wasn't all that great for a first impression, but said outhouse hid a staircase that led to a two story underground facility that was EXTREMELY impressive.

The staircase ended at two large double doors, which opened to an entryway that had two hallways, one that went left, another that went right, an elevator, and two more large doors. Charlie led the group with her first to the elevator.

"I'll show you all the toys first," she explained with a grin.

The elevator went down one level, and Charlie led them through an expansive library, medical center, lab, and, oddly enough, a holding area with three cells. When Bruce had asked what those were for, Charlie had grinned.

"Just in case." She shrugged, and then she'd led the group back to the main floor. The main floor held a much smaller library that she called the study, and a training center. The rest of the main floor housed a huge kitchen, large dining room, and a living/family room area with several large couches, and a huge flat screen.

The huge group had admired the first floor for a few minutes, then Charlie led them down the hallways.

The two hallways were actually the same hallway, and circled the main living area. The hallway had several doors, (12 to be exact,) and all of the doors led to a bedroom.

"Sometimes I deal with people who need to go underground." Charlie explained. "If that's the case, I bring them here. Combined with the rooms here and upstairs, There are 6 single rooms with king beds, 10 rooms with 2 queen beds that have an adjoining door between one other room, and four suites, which have their own living and dining areas, and two separate bedrooms as well. One room houses a king and the other two queens." She turned them with a smile. "Each room has a separate bath." Each room had a number. She tapped room number one's door with a grin. "For the duration of this…" She shrugged, "adventure, I'll assign you rooms." She smirked. "I suppose if you ever need it after, it'll be available to you as well, but that's too far in the future for me."

She turned to Ian who held a handful of keys. He smiled brightly, and she rolled her eyes. "We'll assign rooms in a second. Come on." She led the group back onto the elevator, and introduced them to the third floor…which was only half a floor.

The third floor housed rooms 17 through 22, a large open area that housed what looked like the main computer, and a huge table, and had two doors that led to Charlie's office, and then to what she called with a smirk, the adult rec room; which had a bar, a pool table, and another large flat screen. The main area, which she called the command center, housed a balcony that looked down into the main floors living area.

Charlie gestured for everyone to take a seat at the large table as the tour ended. and then she sighed.

"You all have been suspiciously silent during the tour." She recognized. "I understand you have questions you want answers to; but first, let's figure out who everyone is. Those originally from London, please rise."

John stood, and after a moment, so did a reluctant Sherlock. Charlie sat, and gave them the floor.

John rolled his eyes. "I'm John Watson, this here is Sherlock Holmes." John began. "I'm a doctor, formerly for the army, and Sherlock's a consulting detective. You might know the git from his fake suicide stunt a few years back and more recently from him coming back to life. We met Charlie as Eden the summer of…" John paused, and with a sigh Sherlock continued the tale.

"It was May of 2012; She was at the time working with the British Government,"

"AKA his brother." Charlie clarified for the slightly stunned looks in the room.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Same thing. As I was saying, my brother insisted she accompany us for a short time as an intern."

"A week;" John clarified. "She ended up staying with us for a few months, before,"

Sherlock and John grimaced.

"Moriarty." They said together.

Steve straightened. "That's one of the men after Charlie." Steve looked to his team.

Sherlock and John shared a disbelieving look.

"That's hard to believe." Sherlock argued, "Seeing as I watched him shoot himself in the head."

"He's definitely dead." John agreed.

"How many times have we heard that one?" Dean muttered to Sam, and the group at the table turned to them. The brothers straightened.

"Our turn?" Dean asked with a head tilt.

Charlie shrugged. "Sure why not." John and Sherlock sat, and Charlie stood for a moment. "Moriarty was an issue; until he died. I left London shortly before the real ruckus started, and kept myself mostly occupied.

"And when she says mostly occupied, she means she was running around with her boytoy killing monsters." Dean clarified with an eyeroll.

"Literal monsters?" Tony tilted his head. Dean and Sam looked to Charlie, who shrugged.

"I guess we should've prefaced this little talk by saying;" Charlie pointed to the Londoners; "People are monsters, Aliens exist, and everything that goes bump in the night, such as vampires, werewolves,"

"Demons, angels," Dean spoke up with a smirk,

"Shapeshifters, those kinds of things…" Sam ended. "They're all real too."

Tasha grimaced. "That's awesome."

"Right?!" Charlie shrugged. "Luckily, while detectives fight people-monsters, and the Avengers fight the aliens, there's a secret group of people who call themselves hunters, and they hunt the monsters."

"So you're hunters?" Bruce clarified.

"Yep." Dean nodded. "And for a short time, Dylan, er, Charlie," Dean narrowed his eyes, "hunted with us."

"We ran into her a few times when she was hunting solo." Sam explained. "Figured it would be safer if we all hunted together."

"You're saying Charlie went after vampires and werewolves alone?" Steve narrowed his eyes.

Thor shot Charlie a look, and she shrugged.

"That may be what they're saying." Charlie spoke up. "But I can take care of myself."

Sam and Dean rolled their eyes. "Sure you can." They spoke simultaneously. Charlie huffed.

"Finish your part." Charlie waved a hand grumpily, and with a smirk, Sam did so.

"She hunted with us from April of 2013 until…" Sam turned to Dean.

"August of that year." Dean supplied. "There was a big showdown between her and the king of Hell, long story," Dean smirked, "and she ended up getting hurt. Her boy toy showed up about a week later and whisked her off."

"Don't talk about my husband like that. The way you talk about him is RE-PRE-HENSIBLE." Charlie warned with a grin. Tony shuddered.

"What?" Charlie asked confused.

"You. With a husband." Tony shuddered again. "It's weird."

"You're practically a child." Thor added in chastisement.

"Dude. I'm 24. Definitely old enough to be married." Charlie reasoned.

Thor grimaced. "You're a child." He said again a little petulantly, and Charlie patted him on the arm.

"Okay, so when you first met me I was a kid." She agreed. "But that was years ago."

"How long ago?" Dean piped up.

"You met the Avengers first, before you did the rest of us." Sherlock mused. "You didn't keep in touch though, and they're disgruntled that strangers to them seem more in tune with you than they are."

"Hey." Tony pointed a finger. "You don't have to tell us about ourselves." His eyebrows furrowed. "We know who we are."

"Do you?" Sherlock asked lightly, arms crossing. "Do you really?"

"Sherlock, enough." Charlie stepped in. Sherlock subsided, but winked in Tony's direction, making Tony decided he wasn't going to like the guy. "But you're right, as always."

"May of 2011." Clint spoke up. "You kept interrupting us while we were dealing with the first alien invasion, and then right after; you had nowhere to go. So we took you in."

Charlie nodded with a small smile.

"And you stuck around till right before thanksgiving." Steve added sadly.

"You disappeared during a fundraiser." Bruce put in.

"You didn't even say Goodbye." Thor mentioned, still stuck on that one fact.

"And all because Tony was a douche and called you a stray dog." Tasha turned to Tony, speaking frankly.

"And you said she had fleas." Clint crossed his arms.

"You did what?" John choked.

"That's horrible." Sam chastised.

Tony raised his hands.

"I didn't mean it like that." He tried,

"Didn't you?" Sherlock asked, eyebrow raised, and Tony made a face in the consulting detective's direction.

"He didn't." Charlie crossed her arms and caught Tony's gaze. "I know he didn't, and I don't blame him." She shrugged. "It was a volatile situation, and while what you said wasn't why I left, it was the deciding factor."

Everyone was silent.

"So why did you leave?" John asked.

Charlie sighed. "I had things to do."

"Care to elaborate?" Tasha asked dryly.

Charlie huffed. "Does that mean what I think it means?" She asked slowly.

"Yes it does." Dean straightened.

Sherlock clasped his hands on top of the table, and narrowed his eyes at Charlie.

"Now." He spoke smoothly…ominously.

"It's your turn."

* * *

 **A brief overview of the last five ish years of Charlie's life, and then... Charlie's turn next Monday! Yay!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	7. The Bourne Identity

Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.

* * *

Charlie looked at the table she sat at, at the eclectic group of people she'd gotten to know over the last five years, and she prepared herself to be brutally honest.

These were people she'd fought with, lived with, laughed with. These were the people who became her family after she'd lost hers, who'd taken her in and protected her and taught her and believed in her. They trusted her with their everything…so it was time for her to do the same.

"I was born Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk, in Washington D.C, nearly 24 years ago." Charlie began frankly. "To two parents still actively serving in the military. I was their second child, my older brother was five when I appeared on the scene."

"Devon." Sam added, and Charlie grinned.

"Devon." She agreed. "We spent most of our childhood with my uncle Robbie, who'd served in the marine core for over a few years before he was injured. He died of cancer when I was 11. My dad retired a couple months after that, he was a surgeon," Charlie winked at John, "a noble profession, but after Uncle Robbie passed he came home to take care of us kids."

She shrugged. "I was 14 when I glitched for the first time….right into a secret SHIELD base, mere seconds before Loki the God of being an idiot," Charlie scoffed, "landed on earth intent on destruction."

Dean raised a finger. "Glitch?" He asked, entirely confused.

Charlie made a face. "I just realized you don't know that part." She shrugged. "I have the ability to jump from one place to another in a matter of seconds. When I first received this talent, courtesy of Loki and his fried brain trying to find an Ally, I could glitch entire alternate universes and also couldn't control it." She shrugged. "I glitched 8 times in between going to high school, graduating a year early, joining the army,"

"Excuse me?" Steve interrupted, eyebrows raised in surprise. Charlie grinned.

"I joined the army." She said again. "I enlisted, went through boot camp, and served a two year tour with Special Forces before I glitched into this universe for the last time."

"Rank?" Steve asked.

Charlie grinned. "We're all Captains here." She winked. "For now."

Steve shook his head, but said nothing.

"Anyway, the 8th time I glitched over, Loki the God of jerk holes decided to trap me here." Charlie shrugged. "I couldn't go home. So The Avengers took me in for a while."

"So pretty much you can teleport?" Dean spoke up. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes." Charlie agreed.

"And you couldn't control it…but you can now?" Sam added.

"Yes. I learned the art of control while staying with the Avengers."

"And….you're a captain in the army?" Tony clarified. "And not sixteen?"

Charlie nodded. "Despite the fact that I didn't broadcast them, I did have birthdays." Charlie laughed.

"When?"

"Hmm?" Charlie looked at Sherlock, whose arms were crossed.

"When is your birthday?" He asked slowly.

"August thirteenth." Charlie squinted. "In two days, actually."

Sam and Dean shared a look, John huffed in Sherlock's general direction, and the Avengers glared at one another.

"Are we all just realizing that I not only HAD a birthday when I was with all of you, but also that I never told you about it and thusly it was never celebrated?" Charlie inferred.

"Got it in one." Dean narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't really like parties." Charlie shrugged. "No biggie. Anyway, yes." Charlie pointed at Tony. "I will be 25 soon enough. I was 20 when I left the Avengers, for more London-y pastures."

"But Holmes said May." Thor pointed out. "You left us in November, without saying goodbye," Thor muttered the last part under his breathe, then continued in a normal tone, "What were you doing in between?"

Charlie grinned. "I was doing a lot of things. Working with Shield some, helping with taking out Hydra, making Allies, looking for leads on a missing persons," Charlie shrugged. "Normal stuff."

"Sure." Tasha snorted.

"But most of the Hydra stuff went down while you were in London." Steve pointed out.

"Coincidence?" Bruce smiled.

"Probably not." Tony answered. "So London. With those guys."

"Yep." Charlie nodded. "Then I skipped out when things got weird, went back home."

"To Clint, apparently." Tony pointed out. Clint grinned.

"Well…yeah." Charlie grinned. "I came home, started working on a few projects, went hunting every so often, and then got sucked in by the Winchesters."

"Thus starts your time as a hunter." Clint concluded "Which went on for like six months, then you got hurt, and then your boyfriend dragged you home."

"Where I went right back to work on more of my projects." Charlie agreed.

"Okay." Tony nodded. "What projects? It's been what, three years, since hunting with those giants?" Tony pointed to Sam and Dean, who grimaced.

"Well, besides getting married," Charlie grinned, "I have this list."  
Out of her pocket she pulled a crumpled piece of paper. She lay it on the table, straightening it out gingerly.

"I wrote this list out a few weeks into staying with you guys," Charlie smiled at Steve and Co. "About a month after I got stuck in this world. It was everything I wanted to do while I was around, all the ways I could help, what I thought would be helpful, knowing what I knew. There are 20 things on this list; and whenever I wasn't helping any of you, I was working on this list."

"Well, what's on the list?" Bruce asked.

"Number one was Hydra."

"That one's crossed off then." Steve smiled in pride, and Charlie nodded.

"Luckily." She agreed. "The second was a missing persons case," Clint snickered and she shot him a wink, "Also crossed off.

"Third; and is a program you've probably heard of; is the Veteran's Reestablishment of Pride program,"

"The VRP!" Steve brightened. "A few buddies of mine work for the program, they help run it."

"Wilson and Jones?" Charlie grinned. "They do a good job with it."

"The Vee Pee what?" Dean asked.

"V. R. P." Charlie crossed her arms. "It's a program that helps veterans reconnect with their families and friends after deployment and offers resources that help them find housing and jobs and support groups, while hopefully allowing them to retain their pride."

Steve nodded. "It's a wonderful program, I help out when I can."

"And you created it?" Tasha asked disbelievingly.

"No." Charlie countered. "I founded it. Then I hired people to run it and now I oversee it."

"So yes." Clint grinned. "She created it."

"What else is on this list of yours?" Bruce asked, intrigued. Ian, up to this point, had remained silent, but then stood with a grin and moved to Charlie's office.

"A school;" Charlie began.

"The Devon Academy." Sam grinned. "The boarding school for hunters kids."

Charlie smiled. "It gives them a safe place to stay, an opportunity to learn, and a chance to just be kids, without having to worry about monsters all day, every day."

"It would've been a life saver, if it had been around when we were kids." Sam admitted. "Dean and I went with our dad on hunts because what else was he supposed to do with us? We were never enrolled in a school for longer than a month."

"That's no way to live." Bruce sympathized.

"It's not." Charlie agreed. "Thus the school was born. Ian's girlfriend is the principal, and next month it opens its doors for its fourth year. We're going to see our first group of graduates who've been at the D.A. for all four years."

"Exciting." Thor complimented.

"Yep." Charlie agreed.

"At about the same time as the school got off the ground," Clint interrupted, "Charlie realized how much paperwork went into running a school, and a charity, not to mention the apartment buildings she owned and the businesses she had a hand in, as well as the fact that she was working on opening a medical center, and an industry, and was pretty much building an empire, and she needed an office."

"So I got an office." Charlie shrugged.

"Whoa." Dean pointed at John. "You're the doctor that appeared out of nowhere and kept my lung from collapsing. You work at Charlie's medical center?"

John nodded. "That I do."

"You heard of the KB Empire?" Clint asked smoothly.

"The one that runs Eagle Industries, the Stark Industries of D.C?" Tony leaned forward. He'd heard of the industry, everyone had. It had appeared practically overnight and was wildly successful, though the owner seemed more than happy to stay as far away from Stark Industries as possible. Which irked Tony to no end, Pepper had been trying to introduce herself to the owner for months, but the guy was a ghost.

Apparently, it wasn't a guy.

"Eagle industries is YOU?" Stark asked disbelievingly.

"Not JUST me," Charlie tried, but Clint was already nodded.

"Yep, that's Charlie. And so is the Kirk Institute that Jane Foster works at, and has been trying to hire on Dr. Banner for over three months." Ian added, coming forward with a folder.

"I haven't refused the job offer," Bruce promised, a little shocked. He looked at Charlie, who just smiled. "I'm still thinking it over."

"No rush." Charlie waved off. "We'll take you on anytime." She turned to Clint. "But, hey, Barton? Maybe stop bragging like I'm your golden child?" She asked nicely.

"We knew about your list." Dean spoke up. "But we didn't know you were trying to take over the world."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I'm not taking over the world." She argued.

"Says the president's most trusted advisor." Sherlock snarked. "Face it, Charlie," Sherlock winced at the name, but stood. "You have done what I previously believed to be impossible; you have made a huge difference in your country simply because you want it to be the best it can be. There is no ulterior motive, profit does not blind you, although you are most certainly the richest person in the room," Sherlock shot a look towards Stark, "Which is saying something, and yet you're not yet 25, still humble, and still innocent. Mycroft would be shocked. You're wildly successful, and still good." Sherlock smiled. "Even I am impressed."

Charlie smiled brightly. "Thank you Sherlock."

"So….how's the Eagle industry doing with artificial intelligence?" Tony asked smoothly.

Charlie grinned. "That's a question for Esteban."

"Yes? You need something?"

Everyone froze as a voice; seemingly coming from nowhere, began to speak.

"Esteban, meet the group. Group, meet Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya De La Rosa Ramirez."

Bruce grinned. "Sup, Esteban."

"Hola."

"Esteban's my personal A.I." Charlie admitted. He's my robot-Ian."

Ian made a face.

"Well he is." Charlie shrugged apologetically. "He keeps an eye on everything Ian doesn't, so I'm always covered.

"Speaking of, boss-lady," Esteban spoke, "You have an incoming."

Charlie brightened. "Who?"

"The husband?" Steve asked, arms crossed.

"No. The angels, ma'am."

Sam and Dean looked over at Charlie with wide eyes.

"It's not what you think." She promised.

"It's exactly what you think." Gabriel appeared with a bright grin. Charlie grimaced.

"Gang, meet Gabriel."

"An angel?" Sherlock raised a brow.

"THE angel." Gabriel corrected. He waved at Sam and Dean. "Hey boys!"

"You're friends with angels?" Tony squeaked.

"Worse." Charlie spoke dryly. "I let these goof-angels watch MY angel."

"What?" Steve asked, completely confused, but Esteban let out an amused "incoming," and a little girl no older than two came running up the stairs, making a beeline towards Charlie who smiled widely and lifted the child up into her arms.

The dark brown hair and mischievous smile on the little girls face told everyone exactly where she'd come from even before the little girl put one small hand on each of Charlie's cheeks. Charlie greeting the little girl with a warm,

"Well hey there angel," to which the little girl simply answered with satisfaction….

"Mama!"

* * *

 **So...Charlie has a little girl! And Gabriel is still a nuisance, lol. And Charlie was a fan of Suite Life of Zack and Cody, apparently.**

 **Lot of information, and more to come next chapter! Yay**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	8. Spy Kids

Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.

* * *

Okay, yes, maybe it was cute….

Charlie holding a little girl that looked just like her, both extremely excited about being reunited, that was adorable.

Strange little child that most certainly came from the young woman everyone still considered a baby herself….that wasn't ok.

Also…she was younger than all of them. And she married some still unknown dude and popped out an- admittedly sweet- child?

* * *

"I would like to lodge a complaint." Tony slammed his hand down on the table and stood.

Both Charlie and the little girl looked to him, a little surprised at his outburst, then they both smiled.

Identical little smiles that meant mischief. The little girl began to wiggle and Charlie smiled. "Sic him." She advised, letting the child loose onto the table top. Like lightning, the girl had crawled over to Tony and raised her arms imperiously. Tony shook his head.

"Nope." He argued with the little girls silent plea. "Not doing it."

The little girl wiggled her fingers encouragingly, but Tony shook his head harder. "Not happening." He warned.

Steve, despite his own shock, shared a grin with his team. It WAS kind of funny.

Sam smiled as well, but Dean was too busy sending a deadly glared at the man who'd just climbed up the stairs.

Cas shrugged and crossed his arms.

Dean didn't own him.

Sherlock openly smirked at the look of dismay on Stark's face, and John shook his head.

It was funny.

The little girl, obviously realizing that Tony wasn't going to budge, pulled out her largest weapon.

When Tony caught sight of the bottom lip, pushed out and quivering, he melted, and gingerly picked up the devious child.

"Tony, meet Reagan." Charlie introduced dryly. "Actually…everyone, meet Reagan. Reagan, say hi."

Reagan, having gotten what she wanted, smiled happily, arms around Tony's neck and hands threaded through his hair.

"Hi!" Reagan's high pitched voice had the table full of hardened warriors and cold-hearted adults melting.

"Hey Reggie!" Clint greeted, and faster than Tony thought possible, the little scamp had leapt from his arms…and into Clint's.

Tony would never have admitted to missing the little girl's weight in his arms, so instead he crossed his arms and turned to the cause of his ire.

* * *

"You made that?" He demanded. Charlie shrugged, and Sherlock answered for her.

"Obviously." He sniffed.

Tony turned to the British man who'd up to this point had been mostly silent. "Really? And you know this how?" He asked acerbically.

Sherlock smirked, then turned to the child. "The child is not yet two, but nearly there, probably 18 months, as inferred by her speech patterns and ability to interact. She's obviously Charlie's characteristics and bone structure tell that tale, though her eyes she must have gotten from the father, whom, going by the age of the child and the last time she was seen pre-wedding ring, was either born on the honeymoon or the reason for the lack of a wedding."

"Wait, no wedding?" Bruce asked.

"You really think that she'd hold a huge wedding and not invite any of you?" Sherlock tossed his head. "Of course not. So: shotgun wedding." He shot her a look. "Or spur of the moment. Either way, you weren't married for very long until you were pregnant."

Charlie nodded. "Got drunk, woke up the next day married." She raised a hand. "To my boyfriend of over 2 and a half years, so it was going to happen at some point." She shrugged. "My drunk self just kind of rushed it along. And yes, Sherlock, we conceived on our honeymoon." She smirked. "My husbands super-sperm at work."

Clint shuddered. "Nasty." He chastised, covering Reagans ears. Charlie shrugged.

"Truth." She countered bluntly. Then she turned back to Sherlock.

"Any more deductions, oh genius detective?" She teased. "I know you've been itching to say something for a while now."

"The archer is close friends with your husband, and despite the fact that he works primarily with shield, he makes a point to keep in contact with the two of you." Sherlock turned to the Winchester Brothers.

"The taller brother keeps in sporadic contact with you, seeing as he knew you were married, and he was more surprised by the newcomers than the child, he also knew you'd been pregnant. The older brother seems mildly informed, but perturbed that said newcomers were with your child; jealous. He knew you'd procreated, but had never met her." Sherlock pointed to the newcomers.

"The trench coat wearer is much too stiff; he's not human, or hasn't been for very long. You said angel; dead giveaway. Gabriel was the messenger archangel, he had the most interaction with humans then, stands to reason he more easily adapts, but he's also spent considerably longer around us than the trench coat." Sherlock tilted his head. "How's that?"

"Wonderful." Charlie clapped her hands. "By the way, trench coat is Cas."

Cas inclined his head in Sherlock's direction, then turned to JJ. "Reagan refused to nap." He spoke gruffly. "She might be cranky."

Charlie grimaced. "The rebellion begins." She turned to Reagan. "That's not supposed to hit until the teenage years." She complained. "I demand a refund." Reagan just giggled. She patted Clint's face and then pointed to John, who smiled and held out his arms. Clint made the switch and smiled brightly at the Avengers, who watched him with narrowed eyes.

"Is…this the guy?" Thor asked, a little worriedly. He pointed to Cas and then to Charlie's left hand. Dean choked.

"No." Dean answered immediately. "This is definitely not the guy."

Charlie squinted. "What do you mean…" Her eyes widened. "Whoa. Cas and I are not married. NOT." She shook her head furiously. "I would NEVER."

Cas smirked. "Should I be insulted?" He joked, and Charlie snickered.

"Probably." She pointed to the three boxes that sat in the center of the table. "These boxes supposedly point to my demise. I'm waiting for that device thingy that reads for anything suspicious."

"Can't you're A.I. do that?" Bruce asked. Tony smirked.

"He's checked for the human-alien stuff." Charlie nodded. "This device thingy checks for everything else."

"Incoming, Boss-Lady." Esteban warned at just that moment, and a tall dark haired man wearing a wide grin walked in.

"Is this the guy?" Bruce piped up. The man froze, eyes wide.

Charlie snickered. "The groups currently waiting for the love of my life to arrive." She explained, and the man relaxed.

"Oh. Yep, that's me." He smirked.

"No." Charlie retorted, "It's not." The man pouted and Charlie laughed. "Guys, this is Ward, Ward, My London Allies," Charlie pointed to Sherlock and John, and John waved. "The Winchester brothers and soon to be the S.S.A.'s most trusted agents,"

Sam and Dean looked confused, and she winked. "I'll explain later," She promised, continuing with her introductions, "And I'm sure you recognize the rest of them." She waved.

"Hey Ward." Clint shot Ward the peace sign. Ward nodded.

"Sup Barton."

"Ward was Hydra when I found him." Charlie explained. "I converted him,"

"Threatened me into conversion, more like," Ward snorted,

"Then he helped me with my missing persons, and despite the fact that he's mostly Shield now, we're best friends." Charlie concluded. "He's been with me since," Charlie shrugged. "Since I was with you guys." She pointed to the Avengers.

Steve stood. "You were with Hydra?" He asked slowly.

"When I was an idiot, yes." Ward answered. He held out his hand. "But Charlie helped me see the light."

"So what's Hydra to you now?" Steve asked, not shaking Ward's hand just yet.

"An organization that fought for all the wrong things that needed to be stopped, and was." Ward answered simply. Steve nodded, and shook the man's hand.

Ward turned to Charlie. "I brought the thing you wanted." He handed Charlie a small black device, and she grinned.

"Wonderful. You headed back up?"

Ward looked around the group. "Yep. I think you've got enough backup." He pointed a finger at her. "But if you need me, I'm available to be eyes and ears up top." Charlie nodded. Ward smiled at the group. "Nice to meet you all." He waved, then strode away.

"Speaking of, I should jet too." Gabriel grinned. "Cas, you sticking around?" Cas shot Charlie a look, and she shrugged.

"Yes." Cas nodded. "I'll be here."

"Alright. Don't have too much fun." Gabriel winked, and then vanished. The Avengers did a double take.

"Did he just?" Tony asked.

Charlie just shrugged. "Angel." She explained simply.

"Boss-Lady." Esteban spoke again, as exasperated sounding as an A.I. could get, "Incoming."

"Finally!" Sherlock muttered. "Then we can get to the CASE….what is that?" Sherlock looked perturbed at the little boy who hurried up the stairs, his blue eyes widening in surprise at the amount of strangers around.

* * *

Charlie smirked. "It was a two for one special." She grinned, and the little boy whimpered at the sound of her voice and hurried to her. Reagan clapped her hands and squealed as Charlie leaned down for the second time that day to pick up a child…her child.

"There's more than one?" Tony blurted out.

"Twins." Charlie nodded, patting the little boys back. "This one's name is Teddy." She whispered in the little boys' ear and the little boy nodded slowly. She handed the boy to Clint, who smiled readily.

"Hey bud." Clint murmured. "Who babysat you today?"

"Ugh I hate stairs." Dean stood abruptly.

"Bobby?" He squeaked out, voice suspiciously high.

Bobby snorted. "No, it's Buddha." Sam snickered.

"Y'all, this is Bobby, he pretty much raised Sam and Dean." Tony raised a hand, and Charlie gagged. "And NO, Tony, gross. Bobby's like a father to me."

Bobby narrowed his eyes, then shook his head. "I don't want to know." He said.

"Then I daresay neither do I" The cultured tone had the group's gaze swinging back to the stairs, and Sherlock scoffed.

"And what is THAT?" He asked snidely.

"Rude." Mycroft Holmes sniffed. "And in public as well. I expected no less." Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"Mycroft Holmes, everyone." Charlie rolled her eyes. "And also a no, Tony." She shook her head exasperated as Tony slowly put down his hand.

"Is your husband even a real person?" Tasha joked. "We still haven't seen him."

"Sometimes, I don't even know." Charlie answered dryly. She turned to Mycroft and Bobby. "Did Teddy nap?" She asked. Both men shook their heads. Charlie huffed.

"Wonderful. I'm going to try and put them down now, then. You sticking around?" The two men shook their heads.

"Okay. See you later. Thanks for watching the bear." They left, and Charlie removed Teddy from Clint's grip and then reached for Reagan.

"Well, as much as you don't believe me, I am a mother." Charlie began. "And right now I need to go be a mom. Talk amongst yourselves, I'll be back." And with a child propped on each of her hips, Charlie slowly left the room.

* * *

Silence lasted for less than a minute before Tony was moving to sit next to Sherlock, "deduce, huh? So you can deduce? Deduce me," John was making Steve's acquaintance and talking about the army, Sam was deep in conversation with Tasha about lore and legend and Dean and Thor were talking monsters on Earth and Asgard, and Clint was talking animatedly with Cas and Bruce about, of course, angels.

"Hey." Clint called out a little while later. "Who thinks they know Charlie best?"

Sherlock scoffed. John opened his mouth to argue with whatever Sherlock was going to say, but Sherlock snapped out, "John does, of course. They nauseatingly close."

John closed his mouth, surprise. He nodded.

"Nope it's me." Tony grinned. "Or Steve maybe."

"It's obviously Sam." Dean snorted. "Sam's pretty much adopted her."

"Wrong; it's Clint." Tasha argued, and the group went silent. Well, could they argue with that?

"Wrong!" Clint spoke up. "It's…"

"I don't know what we're talking about," A new voice interrupted. "But whatever it is…it's me."

Clint whirled around…and then smirked. Steve's eyes widened as he caught sight of the man, who stood at the top of the stairs, wearing a maroon and green sweater and dark jeans. His hair was short and spiked, and he wore a few days worth of scruff.

"Bucky?" Steve breathed out.

"Who?" Bucky furrowed his brows, then his face cleared. "Oh right, that's me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I actually mostly go by James, but uh, yeah." He grinned. "Bucky."

Steve's gaze caught on Bucky's left arm, and Bucky looked down as well. "Ah, right. Metal arm."

"Only sometimes, now." Clint corrected.

Bucky smiled. "Yep. This one is better when in public… it looks like the real deal."

Tony tilted his head. "It's not bad." He admitted. "I could do better."

Tasha frowned. "The Winter Soldier…"

"That crazy psycho guy who worked for the baddies and then disappeared off the face of the planet?" Dean snorted. "That was YOU?"

Bucky shrugged. "I am greatly over exaggerated." He argued. "But yeah. Winter Soldier is me."

"So the Winter Soldier works with Charlie?" Sherlock crossed his arms.

Bucky snickered. "Nah. The Winter Soldier works FOR Charlie. She's the one who actually rescued me from the baddies." He admitted, and his smile deepened. "She's the boss." He turned to Steve and held out his arms. "Well?"

Steve said nothing, still frozen.

"I know I've enjoyed our chats on the phone the last few years," Bucky began, "But don't tell me Captain America won't even greet his childhood best friend that he hasn't seen in seventy-five years with a hug."

Bucky's words were enough to break Steve from his stupor, and he rushed forward. Bucky met him halfway, and the two grown men grinned, eyes bright.

"Well if this isn't just the cutest thing I've ever seen." Charlie spoke up dryly, arms crossed.

The two men separated. "Bucky was your missing persons case?" Steve asked, disbelievingly.

Charlie nodded once.

"Thank you for saving him." Steve breathed. Charlie smirked.

"I didn't save him for you." She admitted.

Steve furrowed his brow. The Avengers shared a look. The rest of the room smirked. "Then why?"

Bucky made his way over to Charlie, and she chuckled. "I didn't know it at the time," She began, but I guess I was really saving him…" She watched Bucky approach with a glint in her eye.

"For me." She finished as Bucky wrapped an arm around her and leaned down for a kiss.

"Hi babe." She greeted him softly.

"Love." Bucky responded, smiling. "The kids napping?"

"Finally." Charlie rolled her eyes. She stepped out of Bucky's embrace and moved toward the boxes. "Now we can open these things."

"Hold it!" Tony ordered.

He pointed accusingly at Bucky.

"THIS…" He began, but Steve interrupted him, voice shrill.

"You married BUCKY?!"

* * *

 **Are you telling me that Bucky and Charlie are married with TWINS?**

 **Yes...that's what I'm tellling you. Aren't the twins cute? Teddy and Reagan? President's names? Because their parents are patriotic and soldiers?**

 **Ehhh...I thought it was cute, lol.**

 **Next Chapter up next MONDAY! Shoot me a Review/Follow/Favorite if you got the time, I love them all!**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~`**


	9. Mrs and Mr Smith

**Late...Sorry!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 _"You married BUCKY?!"_

* * *

"Bruh." Charlie rolled her eyes. "The KB Empire stands for Kirk-Barnes."

Steve shook his head. "Nope." He argued.

Charlie crossed her arms. "Steve."

"Nope." He said again. "I won't allow it."

"Steve." Bucky crossed his arms. "It's too late. We're married."  
Steve narrowed his eyes. "NOPE." He argued darkly.

"We have already procreated, bud." Charlie shook her head. "We are now past the point of no return and you shall just have to suck it up."  
Steve grimaced.

"The kids are pretty cute." Tony spoke up.

"If it helps," Bucky grinned. "Teddy's full name is Theodore Steven Barnes."

Steve melted.

"Oh." He whispered. "Okay then."

Charlie rolled her eyes and clapped her hands. "Wonderful. Now! J, be a darling and tell me which box was mailed first."

Bucky leaned over. "The one sent to the Avengers." He announced, sliding it to Charlie. "Care to debrief me?"

"Well, you know Steve showed up yesterday and warned me about the new supervillain league of people who hate Charlie."

Bucky nodded. "Yes." He agreed. "And I know you directed them here early this morning. Did they show up with boxes in tow?" He guessed, and Charlie nodded. "Yep."

Bucky jerked a finger. "Where'd the Winchesters come from?" He asked. Charlie shrugged.

"Two of the boxes were sent from the same place." She began. "Sam and Dean ran into Tony, who recognized them and their box. Tony brought them back with him."

"How'd you recognize them?" Bucky asked Tony, who watched Bucky move suspiciously.

"She looked them up one time while she was staying with us." Tony explained. "Was too happy about the fact that they were dead." Tony turned to the Winchesters. "You're dead?" He asked.

Sam shrugged. "Not anymore." He nodded at James. "Nice to see you again, by the way."

Bucky waved. "So, three boxes. They been scanned?"

"Yep." Charlie nodded. "They're clean."

"So…what's in them?" He asked.

Charlie grimaced. "Well….that's what we're about to find out." She moved to open the box, and Clint coughed loudly.

Bucky looked up with an inquiring eye, then he grinned.

"Oh, hey man!" He walked around the table to hug the man, and Clint rolled his eyes.

"Sure, you go right for your best friend from 70 years ago, but your new best friend doesn't even get a head not?" Clint complained.

Bucky scoffed. "Best friend? Hardly, I hate you, remember?" But his smile was wide as he and Clint took a step back.

"James, I highly doubt you can actually hate anyone." Charlie rolled her eyes.

Tasha watched the two men, then she smirked. "So THIS was your new mysterious partner." She put together, and Clint shrugged.

"Caught me." He agreed.

"Mystery partner?" Thor furrowed his eyebrows and Clint moved to clap the man on the shoulder.

"April of 2013, when I first hit up D.C.? I wasn't even looking for Charlie, I was looking for my new partner, AKA the Winter Soldier, AKA Bucky, AKA,"

"The love of Charlie's life?" Tony snickered.

"AKA Charlie's missing persons case slash roommate slash," Clint rolled his eyes, "the love of Charlie's life."

Bucky grinned. "And that was the day my own person cockblock appeared." He joked, and Clint bowed.

"At your service!" He boasted, and Bucky rolled his eyes.

"We've been working together since then, and we lived together until Lottie and I got married." Bucky finished.

"You call her Lottie?" Dean asked, eyebrows lowered. "That's cute." He admitted grudgingly.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Wonderful." She agreed. Can we focus on something other than my love life?"

"How about no?" Tony argued. "I don't know anything about this guy." He complained. "Why does everyone else?"

"Dude." Charlie narrowed her eyes. "He picked me up from Sam and Dean's surrogate father's house, which is how they knew him. Sam calls every now and then, which is how he's on better terms with James than Dean is, and Bobby, the guy that was watching my male child has kind of adopted James as well, so Bobby is kind of grandpa. Clint is J's best friend, even if he won't admit it, and James runs our medical center, so he works rather closely with John, who incidently, delivered the children J and I made: together." Charlie summarized for Tony, and everyone else's benefit.

"You delivered the twins?" Bruce asked, impressed.

John shrugged. "That's not my usual field of medicine," He answered, "But Charlie asked, and I couldn't refuse."

"Okay." Tony interrupted. "I get the jist...Tasha stole the mailing invoice from the army fort." He changed the subject randomly, and Tasha snorted.

"Please." She rolled her eyes. "At least I didn't steal the mailing invoice from the White House." Her eyes slid to Sherlock, and he bristled.

"How did you know that?" He demanded, and Tasha smirked.

"I know everything." She said simply, and John chuckled.

"Wait;" Charlie narrowed her eyes. "Y'all had the invoices the entire time and we've been sitting here talking about ME?"

Sherlock shrugged. "You're more interesting than anything on this invoice." He dismissed.

Charlie scoffed and held out her hand. "Let me be the judge of that." Sherlock reluctantly handed over the invoice, and Charlie immediately plopped it face down onto the table. "Scan it, Esteban." She ordered, and the table lit up a bright blue for a moment, and then the large computer screen in the corner turned itself on, the invoice taking up the entire screen.

"Alright; To…" Charlie squinted her eyes. "Yup. Kay, no last name…interesting." She crossed her arms. "That's Stark address, alright. From;" She frowned. "Jim Moriarty." She shot Sherlock a look. He shrugged.

"That's why I stole it." He admitted. "I didn't understand."

"He's dead." John added. "How could this box be from him?"

Charlie huffed. "Unfortunately, I'm more than used to dead people coming back to life." She shot Sam and Dean a look, and they nodded.

"This Jim guy might be dealing with stuff more in our department." Dean spoke up. John grimaced. "If that's the case, we might have a major problem."

"Isn't he a major basket case?" Tony asked. "Jim Moriarty, the psycho-crazy consulting criminal or whatever?"

Sherlock shot Tony a look. "Some like to think so." He sniffed.

John rolled his eyes. "Yes." He answered. "That's exactly who he is."

"SO it's not altogether odd that this guy might be dealing with things out of his control." Sam nodded his head slowly.

"So how did you get mixed up with Sherlock's BFF?" Tony asked brightly.

"She has the tendancy to befriend crazy villians." Bucky rolled his eyes. "I don't know how she does it, but she gets herself in more scrapes than YOU." He shot Steve a look, and Steve grinned.

"Ironic." He spoke up playfully. "That you escape having to deal with me just to fall in love with a daredevil in her own right."

Bucky smirked.

"Okay, pause complaining about ME and look at these other invoices." Charlie spoke up, directing everyone's attention once more to the screen.

"So the box mailed to London was addressed to Eden and came from the Army Base." Charlie began, "And that came from Loki."

"Loki your best friend?" Bucky spoke up suddenly, and Thor shot him a look.

"What?" Thor blurted out incredulously.

Charlie grimaced as Bucky explained.

"They're best friends." Bucky frowned. "They text and call each other all the time." He shot Charlie a look.

"Loki's dead." Thor said dumbly, and Charlie rubbed her nose.

"Loki's NOT dead." Charlie argued. "But," She hesitated, "I also haven't spoken to him since the kids first birthday." She crossed her arms over her belly.

"Which was eight months ago." Bucky moved towards his wife. "Why would he suddenly be linked to an obvious enemy of yours?"

Charlie made a face. "I don't know." She spoke lowly. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Loki's not dead?" Thor asked numbly, and Tony shrugged.

"Apparently not." He answered. "But APPARENTLY he's still a bad guy…so," Tony patted Thor sympathetically. "There's that."

"Does Loki have the ability to bring someone back from the dead?" Cas asked suddenly. Charlie jumped.

"I totally forgot you were here." Charlie confessed, turning to the tall trench coat wearing angel. "Why so quiet?" Cas grinned and shrugged.

"I was enjoying the show." He admitted, and Charlie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "So." Cas prompted. "Loki?"

"No." it was Thor that answered. "Although he can apparently bring HIMSELF back from the brink," He muttered, "He would not have the capability to bring anyone else back."

"Crowley on the other hand…" Sam mentioned slowly, eyeing the screen apprehensively, where the mailing invoice THEY had, listing Crowley as the sender.

"Yeah, but he's in Winchester jail." Charlie argued. She turned to the sheepish looking brothers. "Isn't he?"

"He WAS," Dean began hesitantly, and Charlie groaned.

"He ESCAPED?!" She yelped. "How long ago?"

Sam grimaced. "Eight months ago?"

"The last time you heard from Loki." Bucky began.

"And around the time Sherlock came back." John added.

"Coincidence?" Bruce asked grimly.

Charlie shot the group a look. "Am I ever that lucky?"

"So….We have a legitimate threat. Real unfriendlies, and they have teamed up with some sort of plan." Bucky spoke slowly, eyeing the boxes. "What now?"

"Now?" Charlie turned to the table grimly, following Bucky's gaze.

"Now we open the boxes."

* * *

 **FINALLY...THE OPENING OF THE BOXES! It's literally taken forever to get to this point, because for some reason this group of people just wouldn't SHUT UP...but now we're getting into plot...and a little bit of angst. Charlie's worlds are about to collide...HINT HINT.**

 **Next chapter up in a mo!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?!**

 **LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


	10. The Family

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

The group moved back to stand around the table, Charlie, Bucky, and Clint at the head, Steve, Tasha, Tony, Thor and Bruce on one side, Sherlock, John, Dean, Sam and Cas on the other.

Charlie slid a box to Tony and another to Dean, and she grabbed a box for herself.

"My guess is whatever's in these boxes is directed at me." She inferred.

"Then it's also directed at us." Dean spoke up, and Charlie shot him a surprised look.

"What?" He shrugged. "You've saved my brother and I more than a few times, and we're about due to return to the favor, aren't we?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Truth."

"What that guy said." Tony agreed. "You're in trouble? We'll help you out."

Charlie looked at John, who nodded, and Sherlock shrugged.

"If Moriarty's alive, I get his brain once this is all over." He said curtly.

Charlie snorted. "Sounds about right." She reached for the lid. "On the count of three…."

"One…Two…Three!"

Charlie, Clint and Bucky all tilted their heads.

"Newspapers?" Clint frowned. He reached for a stack of the black and white printed ink, and Bucky did the same. Charlie turned the box over and let the remaining pool of papers fall onto the table as she searched over the rest of the box. After a few moments of twisting the box to and fro, she huffed.

"Box is clear." She announced. "Anything interesting in the papers?"

Clint grunted. "Nope."

Bucky snorted. "Yes." He frowned. " _The Avengers Sequel brings in big box office numbers_?" He read incredulously.

"What?" Charlie snatched the paper out of Bucky's hands. "This is a paper from my universe." She flipped that headline towards Steve, who snatched it up.

" _Chris Evans gets Married_?" He frowned at a smaller article. "My name is Chris Evans in your universe?" He made a face.

"Yep." Charlie reached for a new paper. " _Sherlock season five confirmed for the year 3000_." She snorted. "That's awesome." She tossed Sherlock a newspaper of his own and he read the titles. His eyebrows rose.

" _Benedict Cumberbatch marries pregnant fiancé in surprise ceremony._ " He made a face. "Benedict?"

"Says the guy named Sherlock." John joked, reading over his shoulder.

"Lottie." Bucky spoke up urgently, but Charlie was too busy handing Sam the paper with a grin.

" _Season 11 of Supernatural ends in highest death count in TV history_." Sam made a horrified face.

"Lottie." Bucky said again, handing the paper he'd been holding tightly to Clint, whose eyes widened once he read the main article.

"It's okay, this timeline's entirely off from that one." Charlie promised.

"Charlie!' Clint thrust the paper into her hands, and her eyes widened as she read the title.

"What?" She blinked rapidly, and Bucky reached for her hand, Clint pulling the article out of her hand. Sherlock grabbed it imperiously.

" _Medal of Valor recipient and honored veteran, General Kirk passed away today, March 23, 2015, in a car accident._ " Sherlock read slowly. " _General Kirk leaves behind a grieving husband and son, as well as two grandchildren. Her youngest child, a daughter,_ " Sherlock trailed off when he caught sight of Charlie, hand over her mouth in shock and eyes wide with tears. " _is still missing from what is believed to be a kidnapping._ " He finished quickly.

Charlie turned away from the table, shaking her head quickly.

"No." She blurt out. "No."

She whirled around and began whipping through the papers, snarling.

"My dimension is closed off." She burst out. "They couldn't have gotten through…we've tried, and it didn't work, why would they somehow get through just to send me newspapers, NO, they have to be fake!"

"Lottie," Bucky reached for her, and Charlie snatched her arm away.

"No!" She growled. "NO! It doesn't make any sense, why dimension jump for PAPER,"

"They didn't just jump for Paper, Charlie." Dean pushed his box towards Charlie. "They got these too."

Charlie made a face, and Bucky reached for the box and pulled it towards Charlie.

She looked down, and immediately turned to press her face into Bucky's chest. He wrapped one arm around her, and with the other he dumped out the box.

Out spilled photos, hundreds of photos, all of them from Charlie's other life. Pictures of her as a baby, with her parents, growing up with her brother, high school, graduating, boot camp, the various places she traveled, all of her smiling and happy and more often than not with a tall pale, shaggy haired boy who grew as she grew.

"Who's the kid?" Tony asked bluntly, and Charlie turned. Despite herself, once she caught sight of the picture Tony held up, she smiled.

"Cause I think I like him." Tony admitted, and Charlie's smile widened.

"That's the night of the Avengers premiere." Charlie began, "He went as Tony Stark and I went as,"

"Me?" Steve grinned. "Solid choice."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I know. That punk there is Ryan, my best friend." She sighed. "He was the only one I told about my glitching. He was super jealous." She smiled.

Tony smirked. Then his gaze shot to the back of the photo, and he frowned.

Unfortunately, Charlie saw it, and faster than he could blink, snatched the photo out of his hand. She read the writing on the back, then flung it on the table and reached for the final box.

The lid flew into the corner and mounds of tissue paper flew everywhere, Charlie obviously searching for something.

Sam picked up the photo and read the back, and then passed it off to the next person.

Charlie came up for air with a DVD in her hand, and she ripped off the case and threw the DVD onto the table.

"Esteban." She ordered darkly.

"Play it."

As the A.I. followed Charlie's order, Bucky reached for the note. It read simply.

 _Remember this?_

 _His hair's a great deal less obnoxious now, I assure you._

 _Although, if you've watched the video, you would already know that._

 _He sends his regards._

 _Crowley_

* * *

The video, when it started, began with a black screen, that faded away slowly, and what took it's place was a montage of…home videos?

A tall dark haired man proudly pushed a wheelchair, although the camera wasn't focused on him, nor on the woman who occupied the rolling seat, instead zoomed in to examine the pink bundle held protectively in the woman's arms. The scene then changed to a wriggling toddler, wearing pink and blue and squealing loudly at a young version of the dark-haired man from before.

The young man chuckled and threw the toddler high into the air, the scene changing before the toddler had even made it back into the safety of the mans arms.

The next scene was the same duo, but older now, the toddler turned young girl determinedly staring down at the bike she sat on and the man helpfully explaining how to pedal, and how to stop.

That particular scene dragged, allowing the audience to really get a feel for the relationship between the two, uncle and niece, before it switched…

To a family of four dressed in black and staring solemnly down at a freshly dug grave. The uncle was suspiciously absent, but the determined way in which the almost teenager, now, stood; refusing to let her tears escape told the story quite plainly.

After that, the clips sped by, documenting the girls, obviously Charlie, high school years, from high school dances to birthdays to graduation, and even when the events surpassed high school, her shaggy haired friend remained ever close to her side. Through her pre-boot camp party, to various phone-documented events of movie premieres and late night coffee runs, the speed of the montage slowed to focus on a tall man, her brother Devon, dressed in a suit and pacing impatiently.

"Relax." A voice soothed. "She'll be here."

"She better be." Devon retaliated, wringing his hands. "We can't very well have a wedding without her."

"Calm down, big brother." A warm voice interrupted, immediately easing Devon's shoulders and turning with a wide smile. "It's not like I'm the bride." Devon smirked and strode forward, enveloping Charlie into a large hug.

Charlie, who wore her uniform proudly and who stood confidently, eyes bright.

* * *

For everyone who watched the video play in Charlie's secret lair, it was a Charlie they'd never seen before.

Charlie was relaxed and warm with her brother in a way that someone could only be with a person they'd grown up with…with a sibling.

She was teasing, and comfortable, as she always seemed to be, but this was different.

For many, it was also the first time they'd seen her in uniform.

Dean was the exception; when they'd gone undercover at the fort she'd donned fatigues and wore them well, but this was, once again, different.

For one, this was Charlie's dress uniform, and two; the uniform, instead of looking odd and out of place on the young woman most of the men still considered a child, the uniform fit like a second skin, and instead of looking stiff, Charlie merely looked as if she were born to wear the uniform, and did so with a confidence and an authority that made everyone realize Charlie wasn't just their friend/charge/partner/co-worker. Charlie was also…a soldier.

Despite the crispness of her uniform, Charlie returned her brothers hug nearly as tightly, if not more so.

"I didn't think you would make it." Devon admitted once he released her. "I thought for sure your tour would run long or a surprise mission would keep you away."

Charlie shook her head and placed her hands on his face.

"Both happened." She admitted. "I was actually supposed to be here a week ago, but they begged me to stay longer. And then a mission." Charlie grimaced. "That's the reason I'm not dressed yet. But," She paused, catching his eye meaningfully. "I made it. I will never not be here when you need me," She vowed, and Devon smiled.

"Promise?" He teased.

Charlie rolled her eyes but answered fiercely,

"I promise."

* * *

As that clip faded away, Charlie opened her mouth.

"I glitched for the final time just a few hours later." She spoke slowly, in shock. She laughed breathlessly. "I haven't seen him since."

The group shared a look.

This video was an attack not on Charlie's character, or her business, or even a retaliation of any kind. This was a personal attack… on CHARLIE. It was meant to break her….and it was working.

Unfortunately, the video wasn't finished yet.

There was one last clip, which focused on a broad-shouldered man standing in a cemetery, his gazed focused on three specific tombstones. After a moment, the camera zoomed in, so the audience could clearly read the names…although no one was surprised by what they read.

 _Robert Devon Kirk A wonderful son, loving brother, beloved uncle, and honored marine 1969-2001_

 _Mikayla Eden Kirk Soldier, Wife, Mother 1965-2015_

 _Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk A determined world-changer, lost Let her always be at peace_

With a sigh, Ryan Azariah Blaine fell to his knees so he could place something down on Charlies tombstone. When he shifted, Charlie, despite herself, snorted.

Ryan had gifted Charlie with…Red Vines.

After a moment, Ryan sighed and stood slowly, pausing as a voice spoke up out of nowhere.

"Don't you find it a waste of time, honoring an empty grave like that?"

Ryan stiffened, but he didn't turn around. "You don't know anything." He snapped, voice low.

"Don't I?" The voice responded, bemused. "I know she wasn't kidnapped," The voice continued, and Ryan jerked. "I also know," the voice continued, that you never really thought she had been anyway. You know something else happened."

"Oh really?" Ryan scoffed. "What do I think happened?"

"Not think," the voice corrected, "You know….you know that she glitched."

Ryan whirled around, eyes bright. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the man in front of him.

"Please tell me your name is Andrew Scott." He begged, voice low.

The man in front of Ryan smirked and rolled his eyes. "Hardly."

And the screen went black once more, though the psychological torture was hardly over, as after only a moment, the voices continued.

* * *

"She's still alive then…and she's in danger?" Ryan's voice was mixture of hesitation, skepticism, hope and worry. The voice that answered him was only gleeful.

"Oh I daresay she's in a whole heap of trouble! She's made quite a group of enemies, I'll have you know." Jim Moriarty sounded enthusiastic, as if he were having such great fun. Which…he probably was.

"But you can help her." Moriarty continued, "all you have to do is read this incantation that my very good friend found,"

"Associate." Cool, clipped tones interrupted. "Hardly an associate, but certainly not a friend," The voice drawled distastefully. "Just read the incantation I've found, and you can see your friend again." The voice turned dry. "I promise."

"And I'm supposed to trust you?" Ryan, the smart man asked skeptically. "The grade-A villains from my tv screen?"

"Oh, well, everything's changed in this dimension." Moriarty explained away. "All in good part to your dear friend Charlie."

"She's all too fond of sticking her nose where it doesn't belong." Crowley added with a touch of bitterness.

"For God's sake, enough with the chatter!" A third voice spat out. "Boy" He drawled distastefully, "Just say the incantation!"

There was a beat of silence, and then Ryan's voice was slow, thoughtful. "…She believed in you."

"She's all too fond of lost causes." Loki agreed, voice low. "Incantation." He reminded firmly. "Now."

Crinkling paper and heavy breathing were all that could be heard for a minute or so, and then Ryan's voice reluctantly began chanting something in latin. After about four lines, he stopped.

"Okay?" He asked. "What now?"

No one answered, but once he began screaming….a verbal answer would've been reduntant.

The screaming went on for a while: blood-curdling screams of pain and hurt, one right after the other, all in Ryan's husky tone, and then they just stopped. Ryan breathed heavily, whimpering slightly, and only had enough time to rasp out one word before the video ended….

"Charlie?"

* * *

The room stared worriedly at Charlie's back, who stood near-frozen, chin lowered so far it rested on her chest, which heaved with the deep breathes she took. Her eyes were closed, her arms wrapped around her stomach and fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.

After a moment, Steve broke the silence.

"Charlie?"

But Charlie didn't respond.

John tried next.

"Charlie?"

Charlie neither acknowledged nor reacted to her name.

Bucky took the few steps forward necessary for him to wrap his arms around his wife, but when he should've made contact with warm skin Bucky met only air.

Charlie had glitched.

* * *

 **I cried a little bit while writing this...not gonna lie.**

 **SO...What will happen next? Where did Charlie glitch? Will she ever return? Stay Tuned...Next chapter up Monday!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	11. Dinner For Schmucks

**I HAVE NO WORDS...**

 **Here! Take four chapters while I hide in shame!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"Did…Did she just…" Clint shot Bucky a surprised look, and Bucky sighed heavily.

"Should we look for her?" Steve asked, but Bucky shook his head.

"No." He answered. "She needs to breathe…she'll come back when she's ready."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" John asked, standing.

Bucky shot him a strained smile. "We make sense of this new information, take a short break, and regroup." Bucky tilted his head. "Also, if we make food, she'll probably sense it and glitch back just for that, so." Clint smirked.

"And if she never comes back?" Thor asked.

Steve smacked Thor in the arm, and he shrugged. "What?" He asked defensively. "If I just found out that three guys who are out to get me somehow made a way into my home dimension when I've been trying to do the same thing for years and they stole family memorabilia and also my best friend and were currently torturing him, I'd cut my losses and run."

"Thanks." Bucky said dryly after a moment. "Thanks for that."

Thor shrugged, not entirely unapologetically.

"Just for that," Bucky squinted, then grinned. "Thor, you're on dinner duty with," His smile widened as he thought, "Dean, Tony, and Sherlock."

Thor and the other three opened their mouths to argue, but Bucky simply narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, and the three subsided.

Bucky smirked. "John, Sam, Bruce, work on cataloguing all the new information we've received, Sam, especially that Latin." Sam nodded, and Bucky turned to the black screen. "They've shown us their hand, now we just need to figure out how to combat it." He turned back around.

"Cas, Clint, let's get ahold of our allies. Our enemies are here somewhere, let's find them. Clint, get Mycroft on the London ties first thing. These three are here somewhere, and as clever as they are, they must've left some kinds of tracks."

"And me?" Steve asked.

Bucky grinned. "You get to help me wake up the children." Steve smiled back, and Bucky moved to take in the entire group.

"We'll break in an hour for dinner. Keep your focus, don't antagonize your partners, and please," Bucky looked to the dinner crew, "don't blow up the kitchen."

"No promises." Sherlock quipped, and Bucky rolled his eyes. "Let's not forget the reason we're all here." He added. "For Charlie."

Bucky nodded once and then left the conference room, Steve on his heels, and the rest of the group moved to start on their designated tasks. Tony fell into step with Dean.

"Who put lefty in charge?" He asked a little petulantly. Dean snorted.

"The ring he put on Charlie's finger kind of makes him an extension of her so…" Dean shrugged. "I guess she did."

Tony thought about that for a moment. "So even when she's not in charge," He mused….

"She's still in charge."

* * *

"So which of us knows how to cook?" Tony asked brightly. When Dean, Thor, and Sherlock shot him a dry look, he grimaced. "Right, Ok." He pushed Thor to the fridge. "One of you check the cupboards and the other look through the pantry. There's gotta be like…easy bake mac and cheese or something here right?"

Sherlock snorted. "You want to feed 12 grown adults easy bake mac and cheese?" He asked dryly.

Dean frowned. "Are there really twelve of us?" He tried to count in his head.

"My team is six, your brother and the angel make nine, then the Londoners and Bucky make twelve." Thor hollered from where his head was currently searching the bottom drawers of the fridge. "And yes, fancy coat, I will willingly feed 12 grown adults easy bake mac and cheese…unless you have a better idea?" Tony crossed his arms.

Sherlock thought for a moment, then he smirked. "As a matter of fact, I do." He pushed Thor out of the way to gain access to the freezer, and Tony narrowed his eyes as Sherlock searched the shelves and then appeared with a dish in hand.

"Oh!" Dean grinned. "Frozen Lasagna…perfect." He grabbed the meal from Sherlock's hand. "All we have to do is unfreeze it and stick it in the oven." He unwrapped the meal from its packaging. "How many of these are there?"

Sherlock turned back to the freezer. "8." He answered, and Dean grimaced. "Twelve grown men?" He shrugged. "We better make all of them."

Sherlock pulled them out and then shot Tony a grin. He lifted one of the lasagna's.

"This…" He mocked. "Is my better idea."

Tony pursed his lips. "Hmph." Was the only response that came to mind, and Sherlock grinned.

That made the score Sherlock two…Tony zero.

* * *

"Wow." Bucky settled his son into a high chair as he stared appreciatively at the food-covered table. "I'm impressed."

"I made the salad." Tony blurt out, and Bucky shot him a look.

"Good job, Tony." He stifled a smirk, and Tony preened in pride.

Steve shook his head, buckling the little girl; Reagan, into her own high chair.

The group seated around the table waited while Bucky and Steve dished up food for the kids, but once their plastic plates were filled, it became a free-for-all.

Everyone reached for food at the same time and within seconds the platters were empty and the plates were full.

Chatter was quiet and sparse as the strangers ate, small conversations between groups of two or three occurring every so often, but for the most part the table was silent.

Until Reagan started throwing food.

"No, no," Steve tried to shut her down, admonishing her gently, but Reagan ignored the tall blonde in favor of throwing peas gleefully down the table. One hit Sherlock in the side of the head, and he shot the child a glare.

Reagan grinned, unrepentant, and threw more. Tony snickered, right before a pea hit HIM.

Sherlock raised a brow, and Tony made a face.

"Reagan." Bucky's voice spoke lowly. "Enough." But Reagan ignored her father in favor of sending her twin a look and throwing a few peas in HIS direction.

Teddy mostly ignored his sister, until a pea fell in his lasagna. Then his little mouth dropped open in anger and Teddy retaliated immediately, tossing not peas at his sister, but lasagna.

Reagan squealed in victory and the two children began frantically throwing their food at the other. Bucky and Steve removed their plates from out of the childrens reach, but they only grabbed for the adults plates closest to them, throwing and shrieking.

"Teddy," Bucky tried, but his voice couldn't be heard over his childrens battle cries.

The food fight continued unrelentingly until a low voice broke through.

"Reagan Cassandra." Reagan froze and her eyes widened, the food she'd held in her palm dropping immediately to her tray. Teddy continued to load up until the same voice said, "Theodore Steven."

Teddy dropped his food and his bottom lip immediately made an appearance. The rest of the table looked to the kitchen bar, where Charlie sat, wearing running clothes with a plate of lasagna on her lap. "Listen to your daddy." She ordered, voice firm, and the twins simultaneously turned to Bucky, whose chest heaved.

"Don't throw your food." He chastised his children lowly, and the kids heads dropped. "Eat it."

The twins didn't move until Charlie spoke again.

"You heard your daddy." She said dryly. "Eat." And then the children began to eat.

"Wow." Thor said after a moment.

"I guess we know who the disciplinarian is of the two." Tony smirked.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "James stays home with them most of the time. They're used to him."

"Clever." Cas nodded his head. "Using your power to affirm your husbands."

Charlie grinned. "These kids know, even if they know nothing else," She shrugged, "That J and I are a team."

"So they won't pit you guys against each other later." Bruce nodded his head. "Because you've already established that you work as a team."

"Yeah. Parents of the year over here." Charlie rolled her eyes. She took a bite of pasta and groaned.

"Who made this?" She asked, and it was Sherlock's turn to preen.

"I did." Dean made a face, and Sherlock relented, "With the elder Winchester's help."

Charlie nodded approvingly. "It's great."

Clint's hand shot up the air, and Charlie pointed to him. "Yes, Mr. Barton?" She teased.

"Are we gonna talk about you major melt down and our next steps to take down the three villain-o's?" He asked bluntly.

The table watched for Charlie's reaction, but she just shrugged.

"We can't pretend my freak out never happened?" She asked hopefully.

"Nope." Clint shook his head, and Charlie made a face.

"Drat. Okay." She pushed her food away. "Those boxes were a hard blow…here." Charlie poked her heart area. "It shows us that the three villain-o's are playing this personally, and that sucks on my part. I'll admit it. BUT," She raised a finger, "you all know me, and you know our villains. That means we can hopefully, together, figure out what their end-goal is. But tomorrow."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed, and Charlie shrugged.

"I'm tired, and hungry, and if you really think about it we're at a standstill." Charlie pressed. "It's their move."

Half the table shrugged in agreement, and the other half made faces.

"Agreed." Bucky finally spoke. "Let's call it a night," He advised, "And reconvene in the morning,"

"When the kids have been sent to daycare?" Charlie grinned, and Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Exactly." He agreed. "Any complaints?" The table shook their heads slowly, and Bucky sighed in relief. "Wonderful." He stood and reached for Reagan. "Come on messy," He spoke lowly to her. "It's bath time." Charlie hopped down from where she sat on the kitchen island and moved for Teddy.

"Come on, Bear." She smiled as Teddy automatically held out his hands for his mama. "Bath time for you too." She smiled at the table.

"Excuse us while we go be parents," She joked, and Bucky and Charlie headed for the stairs, talking lowly to their children and each other.

* * *

"They're so cute." Clint shook his head.

"It's disgusting." Sherlock snorted.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, and he relented.

"Disgustingly cute." He rephrased.

The table nodded in agreement, and then Clint stood and clapped his hands. "Alright! The parents are out for the count, and the cooks are automatically exempt from clean-up. That means that Cas, Steve and I will clean the dining room and Tasha, Bruce, Sam, and John, you guys get the kitchen. And…Break!"

Tony, pleased at not having to clean, frowned nonetheless.

"Whoa." He crossed his arms. "Who put you in charge?"

Dean leaned over. "Well, Clint is Bucky's best friend,"

"I resent that." Steve pointed a finger and Dean rolled his eyes, "From THIS century," Dean clarified, which appeased Steve.

"Anyway, Bucky's second in command, so when he's not here, it falls to third in line, and who knows Charlie second best, which automatically falls to…"

"Clint." Tony sighed. Dean nodded and smirked.

"So even when she's not in charge…." Tony repeated his statement from earlier sadly….

"She's in charge."

* * *

"Do you think they're doing it?" Tony blurt out from where he lay on the ground.

Dean choked, and Sherlock shot Tony a look.

"Why," Sherlock bit out, "Would you even ask that?"

Tony shrugged. "They're married. Isn't that what married people do?"

"I don't think that particular recreational activity is solely for those who are married." Sherlock drawled, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" He smirked. "I know that. But don't married people go at it all the time?"

Dean raised a hand from the bed he'd commandeered. "My brother got married in January, and I can attest to that." He grimaced. "That's why I moved out."

"So." Tony sat up. "Do you think they're doing it?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "How would I know?"

Tony's gaze flitted to the TV, and he grinned. "Wanna find out?" He asked smugly.

Sherlock shot Tony a look.

"You disgust me." He shook his head.

Dean grimaced. "I agree with Sherlock…that's nasty."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Esteban!" He turned to the TV. "Show me Charlie!"

And despite their agreement of Tony's nastiness, both Dean and Sherlock eyed the TV Screen as it lit up.

* * *

"Are you sure Charlie's okay?" Steve worried.

Clint and Cas shared a look. "I'm positive," Cas drawled, "that Charlie is quite worried."

"But she's got a husband." Clint added. "That's what he's there for; to calm her." Steve shot the guys a look.

"You're right." He sighed. "But I'm still worried."

John rolled his eyes. "Charlie is a strong individual. I'm sure she'll be okay."

"Maybe," Steve hedged, "But she watched a movie about a demon and had nightmares for weeks. She refused to sleep by herself for that long as well."

Cas and John's eyebrows raised, and Steve huffed. "It wasn't what you're thinking." He waved a hand. "She just didn't want to be alone." Steve raised a hand. "BUT, it proves she's not as strong as she thinks. So how do we know if she's really ok?" He raised a brow.

Clint sighed and stood up. "You want proof?" He asked Steve, and after a moment, Steve nodded.

"Esteban." Clint spoke. "Show me Charlie."

Steve squacked. "What if she and Bucky are…busy?" He hissed, and Clint smirked.

"Esteban would never show us that." Clint rolled his eyes. "He has protocols. Now look." Clint directed Steve's gaze toward the TV screen, and the whole room watched as the screen lit up.

* * *

Bucky reclined on the couch in his and Charlie's suite with a sigh, wearing sweatpants and a t shirt. Charlie nervously tidied up their living room, and after a few moments, Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Lottie." He lifted his hand. "Come here."

"Let me just," Charlie reached for a few more toys scattered around, but Bucky just smiled and waited, and Charlie finally sighed and made her way over to the couch. But instead of sitting next to her husband, he drew her onto his lap. Her head found its way to the nape of his neck and she took a few deep breaths.

Bucky held his wife close for a few moments. "It's okay to say it." He soothed.

"This sucks!" Charlie's voice was muffled, so she lifted her head to look up at Bucky, and her eyes were bright. "All I want is to help people and make this place better,"

"And the people who want the opposite have taken offense to that." Bucky interrupted softly. "So they've targeted you."

"And that's not even it." Charlie shook her head.

Bucky squinted. "Then what is it?" He asked.

"It's that they did what I couldn't." She admitted. "they got back to my dimension; and the only reason they did so is to torture me."

Bucky frowned. "That is interesting."

"It sucks." Charlie argued. "And all I want to do is raise my kids and work on my projects and hang out with you,"

"Oh I make the cut?" Bucky asked dryly. "Good to know."

Charlie rolled her eyes and punched him lightly. "Shut it you." She rolled her eyes. "I know my life will never be simple, and mostly because I don't want it to be, but I'd really rather not be up against these guys."

"Moriarty's a psycho but not actually a threat, Crowley seems to be the one pulling the strings, but overall, he's pretty predictable." Bucky shrugged. "I think it's the last guy that's REALLY bugging you."

"You mean the guy I tried to befriend?" Charlie muttered, bitter. "The guy I actually thought I was getting through to? The one who I told pretty much everything and I thought we were bros and then all of a sudden he's not talking to me and hanging out with those punks?" Charlie huffed. "I just don't understand why he would do this." She added glumly, voice quiet.

Bucky shrugged and patted her shoulder. "I don't know babe." He admitted. "But we're gonna figure out what these guys are up to and we'll stop them, and you can ask him yourself, alright?"

Charlie nodded slowly.

"You can even punch him in the face, if you want." Bucky added with a smile, and Charlie snorted.

"Don't tempt me." She joked, and Bucky laughed. Charlie, despite herself, smiled.

"There." Bucky shrugged. "Better?"

Charlie sighed. "Yeah. It'll all work out, I know. I'll be fine, and for the sake of our viewers, I'll point out the obvious; we're NOT doing it." Charlie raised her gaze directly towards the camera with a smirk. "Now would you guys PLEASE go to bed?"

And the screen, on both ends, went black.

"Well." Tony shrugged, not even a little embarrassed at being caught. "Now we know." He hopped up and headed to his own room. "Night guys!" Dean rolled his eyes and did the same.

"See?" Clint turned to Steve. "She's fine. Now will you guys all leave my room so I could go to sleep?" Cas was the first to move, John following after sending Clint a wink, and Steve was the last to go, relieved.

Charlie rolled her eyes and looked up at her husband, and Bucky grinned.

"They spy because they care." He joked and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Sure they do." Charlie agreed dryly. She moved to get off her husbands lap and head to bed, but Bucky held her tighter. When she shot him a raised brow, he shrugged.

"Let me do this for you." He asked softly. "Please?" And with a soft smile, Charlie relented, letting him carry her to bed.

And not twenty minutes later; everyone was asleep.

Which was a good thing, for morning was going much too soon.

* * *

2:18 AM Loki?

2:46 AM Loki...why are you doing this?

3:22 AM Loki please...Just talk to me!

4:13 AM Loki...I don't want this to be how it ends. I don't want to fight you. But if you don't respond...I might not have a choice.

5:28 AM Fine. We'll do this your way.

* * *

 **That part where Buck carries Charlie to bed?! DISGUSTING. It was so adorable I vomited in my mouth...but Buck demanded it, and I am a fool who gives him what he wants. And the TEXTs? Well...that was also a surprise.**

 **~CLC~**


	12. The Consultant

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

"Someone tell me why the stupid A.I. just woke me up at" Clint looked at the clock situated on the wall above the conference table with a groan, "5 in the morning?!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes at the archer, who glared with eyes narrowed at everyone in the room.

"Justice waits for no one." A dry voice answered Clint, and Clint grimaced. "Right. Whatever." Clint saluted the man who'd just spoken. "Tucker. What brings you here on this lovely morning?"

Tucker, a tall gray-haired man wearing a stoic expression, slid his hands into the pockets of his neatly pressed slacks and eyed Clint severely.

"My boss." He spoke curtly.

"Who is?" Dean, about as awake as Clint, shot the man he didn't know a bleary look.

"Who do you think?" Sam rolled his eyes as he sipped coffee. Dean snatched the cup from Sam's hand, inhaling the drink with fervor.

"Short, brown, who's secrets have secrets?" Tony guessed wryly, poking Thor, who sat next to him, eyes closed and forehead resting on the table. Thor grunted but didn't sit up.

"Something like that." Tucker nodded. "She awake?"

"She is, I promise." Bucky appeared in the room next, carrying a fully dressed Reagan upside down, giggling madly and reaching out for the closest person to her, which fortunately, was a smiling, mostly awake John. Bucky handed over the toddler happily, and strode over to shake Tucker's hand.

"Ed." Bucky greeted warmly. "What brings you to our neck of the wood?"

Tucker shrugged. "Dropping off a few files for the Winchesters perusal," Sam and Dean perked up at that, Sam intrigued and Dean suspicious. "I heard you're dealing with a case?"

Bucky nodded. "Three level tens." He admitted, and Tucker whistled.

"Heavy case load." Tucker sympathized, and Bucky shook his head.

"You have no idea."

"What's taking Charlie so long?" Cas asked, and Bucky winced.

"She's not been feeling well." He shrugged. "It's just taking a little longer for her to get ready this morning than it usually does."

Steve made a face. "She was sick the other day too, when I went to her office." He winced. "Not the best time to get sick."

"It's probably just stress." John shrugged, bouncing Reagan in his lap. Reagan reached out to poke Sherlock, and he shot her a glare.

"Files for us?" Dean shot Tucker a look. "What kind of files?"

Tucker pulled his hands out of his pockets and reached into his suit jacket. He stepped forward and handed Sam and Dean each a card. Cas smiled.

"The SSE divison?" Sam read. You're the director of it?" He shot Tucker an appreciative look. "I've been hearing all about this new division on the news. It's one of President Case's first big changes; creating this division. It deals with special situations, right?"

"Nah." Tucker dismissed. Sam and Dean shared a look.

"No?" Dean asked.

Tucker shrugged, an enigmatic smile on his face. "The public is aware of the division, but the cases they cover are a little different."

"What?" Sam asked.

"SSE doesn't stand for Special Situations." Charlie spoke, entering the room, wearing jeans, and a gray tank top, Teddy perched on her hip. She handed the child over to Tasha, who stared at the little boy, head tilted.

"It stands for?" Dean pressed. Charlie smirked.

"Take a guess."

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Did you create a new division of the FBI just to give Hunters a legitimate profession?" He asked, and Charlie grinned.

"I created a new division in the FBI so Hunters could still do what they do and not only get paid for it, but also have benefits and a team that will protect them and they can rely on, and you even have a union."

"So…" Dean narrowed his eyes. "Not Special Situations…Supernatural Situations?"

Charlie grinned. "Exactly." She shrugged. "It's not a foolproof plan, but now you have actual authority and the opportunity to be legitimate citizens and have travel expenses paid for and no more getting arrested for saving people."

"Charlie…" Sam huffed. "That's brilliant!"

Charlie shrugged. "It's a work in progress." She explained. "Tucker is the director of the division, but he's mostly in charge of the Field Agents, of which Cas is a consultant."

Sam and Dan looked at Cas, who shrugged. "And Bobby is mostly in charge of our Research Analysts."

"Bobby?" Sam raised a brow. Charlie shrugged.

"He didn't want to be a field agent, but we needed him."

"And the files you want us to look over?" Dean turned to Tucker.

"Job offers." He answered swiftly. "I understand you two are the best hunters around, so I'd like to offer you a job."

"Under duress?" Sam joked, and Tucker shrugged.

"Under orders of my boss." He corrected. "But, pretty much the same thing."

Sam and Dean accepted the files, and immediately began looking through them.

"Benefits, the chance to still do you job but maybe have more than that." Tucker explained. "The FBI protects their own; which means wives, kids," Tucker shrugged.

"Even with the jobs you do and the creatures you provoke, you still might be able to actually have a life."

"And a wicked good salary." Charlie added, arms crossed.

Sam's eyes widened. "You can say that again." He choked out.

"There's gotta be a catch." Dean argued, and Tucker rolled his eyes.

"Look through the files." He said. "Think it over. Then let me know." He turned to Charlie. "Want me to take the kids off your hands while I'm here? I have to run back by Singer's anyway."

Charlie looked to Bucky who nodded.

"That would be perfect." She smiled. "Tell Bobby I'll call him with a case update later."

Tucker nodded once and clapped his hands together. Both kids looked up. "Children. With me." The kids climbed down from where they'd been seated, and toddled after Tucker, who nodded curtly at the parents and made his way down the stairs, little feet following after hugging their parents legs.

"Well." Bucky grinned. "That was easy."

"Oh. By the way." Tucker appeared once more, and threw something at Charlie. "This was at Bobby's. Said it was for you…he wasn't sure where it came from, but he thought it might be important." Tucker saluted and disappeared once more.

Charlie looked down at the package in her hands with a dark frown. "Clint." She spoke slowly. "Better put some pants on."

"What is it?" Tasha asked.

"Time to go on a field trip." Charlie bit off, handing the package in her hands to Bucky.

"Why?" Thor jerked upright, blinking quickly.

Bucky grimaced. "Where have we seen this before?" He threw the package on the table so everyone could see what it was.

"Ohhh." Tony nodded slowly, looking down at the wrinkled package of Red Vines.

Sherlock stood. "Looks like our break is over." He intoned slowly, and though no one said anything…they agreed.

The three villain-os had made their next move.

* * *

"So what's the significance with the whole Red Vines thing?" Dean eyed the package suspiciously, as if it were sure to explode at any moment. Charlie, seated in the very back row of the silver SUV, made a face.

"It's just an inside joke Rhino and I shared. Stems from way back, our freshmen year." She shrugged.

"That's it?" Tony made a face. "This all just seems so…childish."

Charlie scoffed. "It's not all that classy." She agreed. "Which our perps are all about class, usually."

"Which means this is personal for them as well?" John guessed. "They're throwing cheap shots at your emotions in some kind of revenge play?"

Thor frowned. "But what does Loki have to gain from any of this?" He argued. "It makes no sense."

"You're telling me." Charlie muttered. "Clint." She straightened. "Take a left up here." She ordered, and Clint nodded and turned on the turn signal. Dean threw the candy back, and Cas caught it.

"Crowley has the most to gain revenge-wise." Cas mused. "You've thwarted his plans AND his revenge plans."

"So maybe this Crowley dude is the brains behind the operation, and he's running this op emotion fueled?" Tony squinted. "I can see that."

"And Moriarty's playing along because I messed with him for a bit, but Crowley was the one with the man-power to bring him back, and that's what HE really wanted." John nodded.

"Loki's still a wild-card." Clint brought up, and Charlie made a face.

"Let's leave the villain theories to James and the crew he has at the Lair." Charlie decided. "They'll work on getting a location while we follow these punks bread crumbs."

"Starting with this cemetery?" John peered out the window at the sprawling green grounds as Clint pulled in.

"Yep." Charlie sighed. "This is where my uncle was buried in my timeline." She admitted. Clint put the vehicle in park and turned back to send Charlie a grimace.

"Ready?" He asked sympathetically, and Charlie nodded.

"Yeah." She answered. "Let's just get this over with."

"I like cemeteries."

Tony shot Clint a weird look. He just shrugged.

"There is just something about them." He admitted. "They're soothing."

"Well, I'm NOT a fan of these places." John shivered. "They give me the heebie jeebies."

"I agree with you, Watson." Thor looked around, eyes narrowed. "This place is filled with sorrow and mourning."

"And dead people." Tony grimaced. "A whole lotta dead people." He turned back to smirk at Dean. "Isn't this like your second home or something?" He joked.

Dean rolled his eyes. "I've dug up my fair share of graves." He admitted. Tony grimaced.

"Gross."

"Guys." Charlie called out, a few feet ahead of them. "Over here."

The group hurried over to where Charlie stood, in front of a tombstone so degraded that the name could no longer be read on it. Cas knelt down on his knees, rummaging around in the ground nearby.

"It's just some random chick." Charlie crossed her arms. "The tombstones not important."

"But there must be something here, right?" Thor walked around the stone.

"Logically, yes." Tony agreed. "Angel dude?" Cas shot Tony a look. "You got anything?"

Cas threw a handful of dirt in Tony's direction, and Tony jumped and yelped.

"Hey!" He screeched, and the rest of the group chuckled.

"You're not a very nice angel." Tony chastised, and Cas smirked.

"I'm not much of an angel at all." He admitted. Then he frowned. "Charlie…does this look familiar?"

Cas removed both hands from the dirt, one of them holding a crumpled picture. Charlie frowned and took it from his hands.

"It's the house I grew up in." She admitted. "About a half hour from here." She squinted and brought the picture up closer to her face. "Clint. What does that look like?" She handed the photo over, and Clint took a closer look.

"It looks like a little kid got ahold of it and drew on it in red crayon." He spoke bluntly, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"But what does the red crayon look like?" She asked, and Clint passed it to Tony, who handed it to Thor.

"It looks like…." Thor spoke slowly, and John glanced at the photo and finished Thor's sentence.

"Fire?"

Dean reached for the photo, but the second he touched it, the Polaroid burst into flames, and Dean dropped the photo with a shout.

The group stared down at the smoldering photo, and Charlie sighed.

"Looks like we're going to be fire fighters for the day." She shook her head and trudged back down the hill, toward the SUV. The group shared a grimace, and then followed quickly behind her.

* * *

"So, we have a dead guy, the King of Hell, and the God of Mischief." Bucky stood at the front of the table, hands on his hips.

"In other words, we have the build-up to the world's weirdest joke." Sam made a face, and Bucky, despite himself, chuckled.

"Pretty much." He agreed. "Now, Lottie's following their scavenger hunt, keeping them occupied, while we try to either locate them and or figure out their end game."

"But how do we track a mythological creature, a demon, and a dead guy?" Tasha made a face. "None of them really have any tracks to follow."

"The demon? Most likely not." Sherlock stood and began to pace. "Loki? His modes of travel make him nearly untraceable. But Moriarty?" Sherlock squinted. "This revenge scheme isn't his end goal."

"Moriarty's probably a lackey that Crowley brought back to help him orchestrate all of this." Bruce nodded. "We agree on that end."

"And for Moriarty's assistance, Crowley lets him live again." Steve nodded. "So he's looking at the future, after all of this is finished and he's free to do…whatever."

"Which means he'll have made contact with some of his former employees." Bucky nodded, following Sherlock's train of thought. He reached for a notebook and a pen and threw them down by Sherlock. "Unfortunately for him you've either taken out, converted, or at the very least made some form of contact with all of his former employees. Give us names, we'll track them down."

Sherlock nodded and bent over the table, writing furiously. After a few minutes he paused, squinted, and circled a name. Then handed the list over to Bucky.

"Who's circled?" Bucky asked, ripping the paper into six equal parts. Sherlock smirked.

"That's the individual most likely to have been in contact with Moriarty." He informed.

Bucky shot him a look. "We'll check all of them, just in case." He passed out the lists and sent the group a tight smile.

"Let's see what kind of lowlifes we can drag up."

"Got Him!" Bruce hurried out of Charlie's office, where he'd been utilizing her computer, eyes bright.

"Victor Baxter." Tasha read over Bruce's shoulder. "A former hired thug, turned homeless, turned, almost eight months ago exactly, self-proclaimed millionaire. He has known ties to Moriarty and was steadfastly loyal, even after Moriarty's suicide."

Bucky looked around furiously for the paper that Sherlock had written the names on, coming up with Bruce's half and looking for Baxter's name. Baxter's name was immediately visible…with the circle around his name bringing attention to it.

Bucky shot Sherlock a look, and he shrugged.

"Well. Let's go have a chat with Mr. Baxter." Bucky reached for his coat and the rest of the group followed suit. Steve hesitated.

"I think I'll stay here." He spoke up. "Hold down the fort, run the rest of the names, make sure we didn't miss anything."

Bucky raised an eyebrow, then he nodded. "Alright. Yeah." He moved to the door. "Do that. We'll be in touch."

Tasha and Bruce shot Steve a look, but he waved them away with a smile, and they followed the rest of the group down the stairs.

Steve listened for the loud clang of the Lair's front entrance to echo throughout the building before sighing and returning to the large table, staring down at the mass of paper that littered the surface.

* * *

"What a mess." He murmured, beginning to move the papers around in some sort of order.

A low cough had him jumping in fright, and he turned quickly.

His surprised look bled away into shock, and then…anger.

"You!" Steve spat. "Don't you think you've done enough?"

The figure in front of him chuckled. "Not nearly." The figure intoned.

Steve crossed his arms as the figure began to speak, and quickly. Steve's eyes widened once more, his mouth dropping open in shock at what the individual in front of him was saying.

Things were getting more complicated by the hour.

* * *

 **UGH. Who does this strange guy bugging Steve think he is? What a PUNK.**

 **Extra points to anyone who knows where the name Victor Baxter comes from!**

 **~CLC~**


	13. The Heat

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **Fire One**

"Oh Crap." Dean made a face. "Your childhood home really IS on fire."

Charlie shot Dean a look of disgust. "Thanks for the heads up, Captain Obvious." She snapped, unbuckling her seatbelt and jumping out of the car.

Dean frowned. "I was just saying." He muttered as he did the same.

"Less talking more moving." Thor demanded, jumping out of the SUV on the other side, Tony and John scrambling after the Asgardian.

"Why are there no fire fighters?" Charlie hissed as she ripped off the jacket she wore.

"That would be too easy." Clint guessed. "This fire is for us."

"Obviously." Charlie glitched, and Dean jumped. The others shot him a dry look, and he shrugged.

"Bite me." He rolled his eyes. "She's never done that around me."

"Alright." Charlie appeared. "We haven't got any potential casualties inside, but I'm betting our next clue is in there somewhere."

"You want us to search a burning building?" Dean choked.

Thor shot the man a pitying look. "Would you rather sit out?" He asked, and Dean bristled.

"What's the plan?" He turned to Charlie. Charlie shot Thor a look, and Thor shrugged unapologetically.

Charlie turned back to the building. "It's three stories. Cas, take the third floor, John with me; we'll take the second, Clint, you've got ground floor. Tony, Dean, Thor, give us six minutes, then take the fire out. Until then, maintain it. We don't want this thing spreading. Alright…let's go."

"So." Tony looked to Thor brightly. "How do we kill the fire?"

Dean narrowed his eyes. "We suffocate it." He said slowly.

"Right, Oxygen, science, I'm a genius, idiot, I know how a fire goes out."

Dean made a face, but Thor nodded and threw out his hand. "Stark, shut up." He swung his hammer lightly back and forth. "I can quench all oxygen and wipe out the fire." Thor spoke. "Won't take but a moment."

"So how do we keep the fire from spreading, genius?" Dean turned to Tony, arms crossed.

Tony shrugged. "We ask it nicely?" he smirked, and Dean grimaced.

"I don't like you." He grunted.

Tony rolled his eyes and started jogging around the side of the house. "Come on, baby," he called over his shoulder. "I have an idea."

Dean turned to Thor, who just shrugged sympathetically.

"I just don't like him." Dean said again, and Thor chuckled.

"Join the club." Thor said dryly, following after Tony.

With a deep sigh, Dean began moving as well.

"I bet it's a big club." He muttered.

"A huge one."

"Well, that was fun." Clint huffed, hands on his hips and breathing heavily as he looked around at the soot-covered group in front of him. "Did we get anything interesting out of THIS stalling tactic?"

Charlie grunted and threw a cardbox box onto the ground. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate scavenger hunts? She rolled her eyes.

"I used to love them." Tony admitted. "When I was a kid, they were great." He shrugged. "Not as awesome now, I'll admit."

"I'm sorry, but did we just fight a fire for…a box?" Dean huffed.

John snorted. "I'm starting to get irritated." He admitted.

"Starting?" Charlie huffed. "I've BEEN irritated. Now…I'm getting pissed." She glared down at the box at her feet."These stupid tasks are nothing we can't handle." Charlie spat. "It's like they're just trying to keep us occupied."

"Like they're stalling." John nodded. "But stalling for what?"

"The end game must be taking time to prepare." Dean rubbed the side of his face.

"But what IS the end game?" Charlie groaned. "What is the point of all this?"

"Charlie." Thor patted Charlie's arm. "Your husband and his team are on that part. Let's focus on this clue in front of us." He turned toward the box.

"Let them push us around; think they've got us cornered, while the other group is hunting down those leads." Cas added.

"Right." Charlie sighed. "Okay."

Dean picked up the box, flipping it around. "But this is an empty box." He argued. "It's literally nothing. Why do we keep getting boxes? This is stupid."  
"Wait." Tony snatched the box from Dean's hand and flipped it upside down.

"Blaine Sitting Room." Tony read the sharpie words scrawled on the bottom of the box, and Charlie made a face.

"One of Rhino's families moving boxes." Charlie identified. "He moved to town the summer before eighth grade year."

The second Charlie stopped speaking, the box burst into flames, and Tony dropped the thing with a screech.

"Let me guess." Clint rolled his eyes. "We've got another fire to deal with?"

"Where did Blaine move to?" Dean asked.

"Close." Charlie began, but was interrupted by a loud explosion. Everyone ducked, then turned slowly to where large flames and screaming could be heard.

"In other words, about a block that way?" Tony pointed with a grin.

Charlie shook her head at him.

"Look alive people." She advised. "Sounds like we have potential casualties this time." She grabbed Clint and the two glitched away, and Thor swung his hammer and jumped into the air, Tony grabbing hold of the tall man.

Cas shrugged and held two fingers to Deans forehead and the two disappeared. John made a face, but started jogging.

"Oh, you guys go on." He muttered. "I'll catch up…eventually."

* * *

 **Victor Baxter**

"Alright, so how are we playing this?" Tasha asked. Bucky squinted as he drove.

"Winchester is the least recognizable, he'll make front contact." He turned so he could address Sam, who sat behind him. "You tell the secretary you're from S.S.A, and she'll let you right through. Say what you need to, to get him to follow you."

Sam nodded, looking down reverently at the REAL F.B.I. badge that had come with the files Tucker had left behind. "Got it." He agreed. "What about the rest of you?"

"Tash and I will come in from the back, and Bruce will be our eyes and ears. Sherlock will get rid of the secretary, and we'll all meet up at the roof."

The rest of the SUV nodded.

"Sounds good." Tasha agreed. "What's our objective?"

"See what he knows." Bucky shrugged. "That's about it."

"So…just a normal op." Tasha nodded. "Easy."

Sam sighed. "It'll be weird dealing with humans." He admitted.

"But a good weird, right?" Bruce asked.

Sam smirked. "Easier, that's for sure."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "You're so confident….let's see what you guys got."

Tasha stood back, arms crossed. Bruces's head was tilted all the way to one side, his eyebrows were raised in surprise. Bucky smirked.

Sherlock stood on one side of Victor Baxter arms crossed and face filled with disdain as he looked down at the well-dressed millionaire that had so confidently marched on the roof and was now reduced to a quivering mass of tears. Sam held the man by the back of the neck, eyes dark and face intent.

"And these two have never met each other before?" Tasha asked, surprised.

"Nope." Bucky answered smartly.

"They're like a well-oiled machine." Bruce marveled.

"This is literally the easiest gig I've ever been on." Tasha shook her head.

Bucky grinned. "If only the rest of this case would be so easy."

Bruce opened his mouth, but Tasha shushed him and leaned forward.

"Wait, I finally think he's done crying." She explained.

"I don't KNOW!" Baxter wailed. "He just showed up and threw money at me!"

"Why?" Sherlock demanded. "What did he want you to do?"

"Nothing!" Baxter shook his head. "He said it was for my loyalty.

"And he didn't ask anything from you?" Sam pressed, shaking the man like a rag doll.

Baxter whimpered. "No! Not then!"

"But later?" Sherlock raised a brow.

Baxter shrugged. "He didn't ask me ANYTHING. He just sent me a text with an address to a realtor's office."

"And what happened when you contacted the Realtor?" Sam asked.

"What did they want?"

"She just wanted my signature on a few papers." Baxter said quickly. Sam moved as if to shake baxter again, and Baxter raised his hands quickly. "That's it, I promise! That was all! I haven't heard from either of them in months!"

Sam and Sherlock shared a look.

Sherlock nodded once, and Sam released Baxter, who crumpled onto the ground.

"We'll need the address, of course." Sherlock said dismissively as Sam wiped his hands on his jeans.

Baxter nodded.

"Of couse!" He promised. "Whatever you want!"

Sherlock paused. His head tilted, and he looked to Sam, who smiled slowly.

"Whatever?" Sherlock repeated.

Baxter nodded quickly.

"Anything!" He promised.

Sherlock looked to Bucky, who just sighed and nodded.

"In that case…"

"What do you even need the names of all the garbage men in the downtown D.C. area?" Sam asked, intrigued.

Sherlock brightened. "Well, since you asked, I've been doing this experiment involving female femurs, and"

"Yo." Bucky raised a hand. "I hate to interrupt," He said dryly, "But now that our lead actually has a follow-up lead, don't you think we should check on this before we go off on a tangent about female femurs?"

Sherlock and Sam wilted slightly, but nodded.

"You're right." Sam agreed. "What do we have on this realtor?"

"Just a name and an address." Bruce looked it over. Bucky's phone rang, and he stepped away to take it.

"The address?" Tasha asked.

"Just someplace in D.C." Bruce shrugged. "7437 Lach Lane."

Sherlock frowned. "7437?" He asked. Tasha took the paper and nodded.

Sherlock pursed his lips. "What's the name on there?" He asked.

"A Renee Ridal." Tasha answered, and Sherlock snorted.

"Wonderful." He rolled his eyes.

"What?" Sam asked. Sherlock held out a hand for the paper and when Tasha handed it over, he pulled out a pen.

"I'm overly familiar with the numbers 7437." Sherlock admitted. "Use those numbers to type on your phone, and what letters can you use?"

"7 is PQRS, 3 is DEF, and 4 is GHI." Bruce said after checking on his phone.

Tasha's eyes brightened. "7, S, 4, H, 3, E and 7, R."

Sam thought about it, and grunted. "Sherlock lane? Really?"

Sherlock shrugged. "It's a trick that's been used before."

"By who?" Bruce asked.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, and rearranging the letters in Renee Ridal's name, made a new name.

Bucky leaned over Sherlock's shoulder and rolled his eyes.

"The Woman." He shook his head. "Irene Adler. Wonderful."

"An associate of yours?" Tasha asked Sherlock, but he shook his head.

"Another associate of Moriarty's." He corrected.

"Awesome." Sam made a face. "Should we get ahold of Charlie and tell her what we have so far?"

Bucky nodded. "Good idea. Steve said he found something, Ian's going to bring him to Barnes Offices." He pulled out his phone. "I'll call Charlie and have her meet us there."

* * *

 **Check-In**

"Hello?" Dean shoved the phone up to his ear, both hands dealing with the large hose in his hands.

"Winchester?" Bucky frowned. "Everything all right there?"

"Uhh," Dean frowned. "Sure. What do you want?"

"We have a lead." Bucky said slowly. "Is your group ready for a check-in?"

"Ummmm…" Dean thought for a moment. "Give us a half hour."

"Alright." Bucky agreed. "Tell Lottie we'll be at Barnes Offices."

"Okay." Dean grunted.

Bucky frowned. "See you then?" He asked slowly.

"Sure. Yup."

Bucky slowly pulled the phone away from his ear, but not fast enough that he didn't hear Dean yell,

"Charlie, are you trying to burn to a crisp? I don't know if you've noticed, but you're on fire!"

Bucky's eyes widened, but the dial tone reached his ears before he could demand answers.

"Is everything okay?" Sam asked.

Bucky shrugged. "Sounds like it's just a normal day for Charlie." He admitted. "We're headed to the Offices." He turned to Sherlock, who handed over the keys. "But they might be a while."

* * *

 **Hehe, 7437 Lach Lane...Renee Ridal...I'm hilarious.**

 **Victor Baxter is a fabulous cook who has two children...Corey...AND...?**

 **~CLC~**


	14. Lucy

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **Check in & New Teams**

"Well, Captain, welcome to Barnes Offices."

Steve looked up at the bright four story building, nodding slowly. "Impressive." He admitted.

Ian smirked. "Wait till you get inside." He advised, and stepped out of the Silver SUV with a whistle. Steve rolled his eyes and did the same, following Ian's lead into the building.

The bright lobby housed a pretty blue and cream color scheme with comfortable couches, a large fire place in the corner, and a desk in the center. Ian marched toward the desk with a grin, and a big, burly man with sandy brown hair grimaced.

"Not you!" He rolled his eyes. "I thought you were making the rounds today."

"Not today, my good friend." Ian grinned. "Boss Barnes has me on a level twelve today." The man behind the desk grimaced again.

"We've never dealt with one of those before." He said, slightly worried, and Ian's bright smile dropped.

"I know." He admitted. "But Boss Barnes has a good team in place." Ian turned slightly. "I have one of her allies with me now. Mac, this is-"

"Barnes' friend." Mac stood slowly. "Captain."

Steve nodded. "Right." He smiled. "Steve Rogers." He held out his hand and Mac shook it forcefully.

"Mac." The man introduced. "I'm the administrative assistant."

"And my best friend." Ian smiled when Mac rolled his eyes.

"You're a nuisance." Mac scolded.

"You know it." Ian winked. "Barnes and Barnes are meeting up here with the rest of the groups. They here yet?"

Mac nodded, then shook his head. "Barnes and his team are in conference room 12. Boss isn't here yet."

Ian nodded slowly. "I'll give Rogers here the grand tour then drop him by 12. Then I'll be back to bug you."

Mac rolled his eyes. "Joy. It was nice to meet you, Captain." Mac said, and Steve smiled.

"Likewise." Steve saluted and followed Ian.

"Mac, like everyone who works with Charlie," Ian began once the elevator doors closed, "was a stray she found and took in. Ex-Marine who got hurt in combat and then got lost in the bottle when he couldn't find a job once he got home. She met him through the VRP program on the first day."

Steve nodded his head slowly. "So you're a stray too?"

Ian scoffed. "I was one of the FIRST strays." He said proudly, puffing his chest up a little. "Back in the day, right after she ditched you guys, she'd bought a run-down apartment building and it was me, a thief turned Shield agent, Gabe Jones, crotchety old man turned co-founder of the VRP Program, Ward, double agent turned Shield and Skye, hacker turned Shield, and"

"Bucky?" Steve guessed, and Ian nodded.

"Bucky kind of completed us back then." He added. "And later, he completed her." The elevator pinged and Ian stepped out. "Come on, Cap, enough stories. Let me show you around."

As Ian told it, Barnes Offices was actually in its second building, bought after Charlie and Bucky married and the two had grown out of their former place. On the first floor was the lobby and a large childcare room, the second floor were the offices of the Barnes Empire Liaisons that worked for one or more company, and the break room, the third floor sat the file rooms and four conference rooms, labeled conference room numbers 9, 69, 88, and 96.

"This floor is where Boss and Barnes' offices are, and also," Ian opened the door with a flourish, "Conference room 12."

Bucky stood. "Steve." He nodded. "How's the lair?"

"Still in one piece." Steve promised, taking a seat at the table. "How did your mission go? Get anything good?"

"Holmes' enemy number one despite the fact that he's been dead for a while has quite a few loyal workers still." Tasha looked up from a file she'd been reading. "We've got an address for a woman

"The Woman," Bucky and Sherlock corrected, and Tasha rolled her eyes.

"The Woman," Tasha repeated slowly. "who apparently is a realtor and has been doing some of Moriarty's business for him."  
Steve tilted his head. "A realtor? Are we thinking Moriarty's been investing in real estate?"

"Yes." Dean strode forward, face blackened with soot. "SOMEBODY is investing in real estate, that's for sure."

"Dude." Sam stood, grimacing at his brother. "What happened?"

"Fire." Cas entered the room next. "Fire happened." Sam winced and began looking his brother over.

"No injuries." He said after a moment.

"Not on me." Dean slumped into a chair. "Back to investing in real estate. What's the point of buying a building just to set it on fire?"

"Because he's crazy?" John limped into the room, hair on end. Sherlock smirked and John shot him a look.

"Oh, shut it, you." He snapped. "Let me guess. All you did was stare at paper. I hope you didn't get a paper cut."

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Oh calm down you baby." He pushed a file John's way. "Moriarty has been buying up buildings under the name of one of his loyal followers. We think the real estate agent he's gone through is also on his side."

John squinted at the paper, then he grimaced. "The Woman?" He groaned.

"Not that broad!" Clint strode in next. He took the chair next to Tasha and shot Bucky a look. "Shouldn't she be in Australia?"

"She should." Bucky agreed. "We don't even know if it's her yet."

"But it is." Sherlock added.

"So you have a next step?" Thor entered the room, Tony at his heels.

"Is it more fire?" Tony made a face. "Because I'm so over fire. Done."

"Agreed." Charlie entered the room, somehow drenched from head to toe in soot. Bucky made a face.

"What happened?"

"The cemetery had a clue that led to what was my childhood home in my timeline, on fire. From there another clue led us about a block north to where my childhood best friends childhood home in my timeline was…also on fire."

"That's a lot of fire." Bruce said sympathetically. Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it." She turned to Bucky and crossed her arms. "Has your team got anything?" She asked. "It can be literally anything….. Anything but"

"Fire." The rest of the room said simultaneously.

"It's not fire." Bucky promised.

"It's worse." Sherlock intoned.

"It's what?" Charlie pressed.

"It's…The Woman."

"Who's the Woman?" Gabriel bounded into the room, a bright grin on his face.

"Only evil incarnate." Charlie turned to Gabe, and he recoiled. "Whoa, buddy!" He winced. "Where's the fire?" He grinned, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Ha, ha, hilarious." She crossed her arms. "What did you want?"

"Oh." Gabe straightened. "Cas gave me the rundown of what you're dealing with, and I think I know someone who can help!"

"Who?" Dean asked suspiciously. Gabe wagged a finger.

"Now that would be telling!" He grinned. "I'd rather just bring y'all to them."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because it'll be funny?" Gabe shrugged.

Charlie growled. "Gabriel, we do NOT have time for any of your stupid pranks-"

Gabriel raised his hands in mock surrender. "It's not a prank, I promise." He dropped his hands. "I really think this person can help."

Charlie narrowed her eyes and stared Gabriel down, and when he simply blinked innocently at her, she sighed.

"Alright, fine. We'll send a group with you and a group will track down the woman. Is there anything else I should know about?" She asked.

Steve flushed, but shook his head slowly with the rest of the group.

"Good." Charlie sighed. "I'm really hating these surprises.

Steve made a face, but still, said nothing.

* * *

 **Gabe's Source**

"Did you really think it was a good idea to send Agent Romanoff off to deal with The Woman?" John asked slowly.

Charlie smirked. "She's probably the only one who can take on The Woman and win." John thought that over, then shrugged.

"Maybe you're right." He agreed. "But I'm glad I'm on this team and not theirs."

"Not fond of this Woman?" Tony teased. John just shot him a look.

"The Woman is the worst person I've ever had the horror of dealing with." John described seriously. "I despise her."

"Harsh, Watson." Steve shook his head. He looked to his right, where Gabriel argued in quiet tones with his brother.

"So who is this we're going to speak with?" He asked. Gabriel shot him a look.

"Just hold your horses and you'll find out." He promised, turning back to his brother. "Charlie, take a right."

"No, Gabe, I'm intrigued too." Charlie looked back as she turned on her turn signal. "You've been oddly secret about this. Who is it that you think can help us?"

"Is it a demon?" Tony asked brightly.

"Ahhhhh…..no." Gabe smirked. "No."

"Then…is it some kind of monster-thing?" Bruce guessed.

Gabe shook his head. "Nope, sorry! He poked Charlie. "Take a left here."

Charlie sighed and did as Gabe instructed. "The place should be just on the right here." He promised.

Charlie looked out the window with a frown. "Gabe; this is a florist shop."

"I know it is." Gabriel grinned.

"The Garden of Eden? Nice name." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Gabriel…this isn't who I think it is, right?" Charlie turned to Gabe, and he just grinned. Charlie looked at Cas, who winced. "Aw…crap." Charlie jumped out of the SUV and marched towards the front doors, and the rest of the group followed quickly.

"So wait." John frowned. "Who is this?"

Gabe opened the front door with a flourish and the group entered, eyes drawn to the blond man standing behind the cash register. He smirked at the group, then his focus turned to Cas.

"Cassie!" He chirped. "Where are your humans? I have missed them so."

Cas growled and turned to Gabriel.

"What the Hell?" He muttered.

The blond man shook his head. "Dear Cassie, you should know better than to say such things in my hearing."

Cas rolled his eyes. "How are you here?"

"That…would be my fault." Gabe admitted. "But it's all fine, because he's SUPER nice now!"

Charlie shot Gabe a look.

"Really?" She snapped.

"I don't believe I've ever met you." The blond man spoke up. "Who are you?"

"Names Charlie." Charlie smiled tightly. "And no need to introduce yourself. I know who you are…Lucifer."

* * *

 **The Woman**

"Ah, The Woman." Clint sighed and turned to Sherlock. "Did anyone ever tell you that Buck and I escorted her to Australia?"

"No." Sherlock said after a moment. "That particular anecdote never came up."

"Well, it's hilarious." Clint grinned.

"No, it was traumatizing." Bucky corrected. "Chick is crazy."

"Agreed." Sherlock smirked.

"So, The Woman is a criminal?" Dean asked.

"Turned realtor?" Sam made a face. "Weird change.

"I disagree." Sherlock shook his head. "All real estate agents are thieves."

"Unless they're on staff with the Barnes Empire." Clint corrected.

"You talking about Adrienne?" Bucky leaned over whisper. Clint snorted, then nodded.

"She IS a sweetheart." Bucky agreed. "The total opposite of The Woman."

"What's so scary about her?" Thor asked, intrigued.

"She's a dominatrix." Sherlock answered curtly.

Dean raised an interested brow, but Thor paled.

"Do you know what those are?" Sam asked, and Thor nodded his head slowly.

"I don't even want to know how you figured out what those are." Clint said dryly.

Thor shook his head. "You really don't." He agreed.

"So…Sherlock." Bucky looked in the rearview mirror. "I've dealt with her once,"

"And once was enough." Clint snorted. Bucky rolled his eyes.

"What do you think is the best way to deal with her?" He asked.

Sherlock furrowed his brow. "I suggest we take the direct approach. She'll try very hard to throw us off track, so we'll need to be on our game. Despite the fact that she's outnumbered she'll be on top of her game, so I think the best thing to do would be to-"

"Let me do all the talking." Tasha spoke up.

Sherlock shot Tasha a dry look, then he nodded. "Exactly."

"Wait." Sam raised a brow. "How is that be best thing to do?"

"The Woman's game is seduction and desire." Tasha shrugged. "I'm fluent in that language, though I haven't used it in a while." She smirked. "This should be fun."

"Just…no one get naked, okay?" Clint asked.

Tasha shot him a look, and he shrugged.

"I've heard things." He admitted. Tasha rolled her eyes.

"No one's going to get naked." She promised. Sherlock snorted. When the group looked at him, he shrugged.

"That's what you think."

"Well, well, well." Renee Ridal, also known as Irene Adler, stood with a shark-like grin as Sherlock strode into her office, Thor and Dean flanking him. "If it isn't three of the most…delicious men I've ever had the pleasure of meeting." The Woman practically purred as she stepped out from behind her desk, showing off her skin-tight suit.

"Enough." Sherlock snapped. "We're not here to play any of your foolish games,"

"We're here for answers. Bucky entered the room with crossed arms, Sam and Clint flanking him.

"Tut, tut, boys." Irene shook her head. "You must allow me just a moment to enjoy the vast majority of stunning men in my office." She leaned forward, a glint in her eyes. "I don't think this office has ever been filled with so many…specimens."

Clint made a face. "Listen lady, I want to know why you're not in Australia anymore."

"Oh…that?" The Woman shook her head. "The reason for my flight overseas has suddenly seen the error of his ways, and has…welcomed me eagerly back into the fold."

"Moriarty." Sherlock hissed, and Irene shot Sherlock a sultry look.

"But of course." She simpered. "Were you quite surprised when his name came up?" She smirked. "Of course, he's so brilliant he can fake his own suicide."

"He didn't." Bucky spoke bluntly. Irene raised an eyebrow.

"Of course he did, how else could I be working for him again?" She snapped.

Sam smirked. "Your boss is dealing in matters way above his head," He said coldly, "and certainly way above yours."

Irene narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth, but before she could utter a word, Sam threw a small bag onto her desk, and she began to choke. Her eyes widened in shock, and a hand flew to her throat as her coughing fit continued. She only regained her ability to speak when Dean snapped his fingers and the bag on her desk burst into flames.

She wheezed delicately for a moment, then shot Sherlock a venomous look.

"What kind of people are you associating with now, Sherlock dear?" She bit out.

Sherlock smiled slowly. "People you'd be very careful to not get on their bad side."

The Woman rolled her eyes. "I know nothing that could be of help to you and your goons." She said waspishly.

"On the contrary," Sherlock argued. "You know a lot more than you're saying, and my associate is only more than happy to retrieve the answers we seek from you…using any method necessary."

Irene's eyes narrowed and she eyed the room. "And which associate do you speak of?" She asked cooly. "Certainly not your pet doctor."

Sherlock smiled tightly. "Certainly not." He agreed. "Meet my associate," Tasha chose just that moment to enter the room, eyes dark and arms crossed, "Agent Natasha Romanoff. Also know as,"

"Black Widow." Irene finished slowly. A flicker of fear shone in her eyes before she masked it, but Tasha saw it…and smiled. With a jerk of her head she dismissed the men, and they quickly filed out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later the door opened and Tasha exited the office, a file held tightly in her hand. Before the door shut, Sherlock caught sight of a tear streaked Woman.

"Moriarty has recently purchased three buildings." Tasha began. She handed the file to Clint, who looked it over.

"The first two are the buildings we were just at." Clint huffed.

"The ones they set on fire?" Dean peered over Clint's shoulder and rolled his eyes. "Wonderful."

"What's the third building?" Sam asked.

"Who knows?" Tasha frowned. "That's a question for Charlie."

"This might be their headquarters." Thor said brightly.

"Or the destination of their final attack." Sherlock said darkly.

"That's likely." Bucky winced. "Especially if they're following the rule of threes."

Tasha took a deep breathe. "Time to call Charlie."

Bucky nodded. "Agreed." He pulled out his phone and held it to his ear.

"Hello?" Charlie spoke tightly.

"It's me." Bucky said shortly. "We have a break in the case."

"Fantastic." Charlie breathed. "Let me call you back, we're in the middle of a negotiation with a difficult ally."

Bucky frowned. "Difficult how?"

"This guy…is literally the devil."

"The devil? What..?" Bucky began, but the dial tone interrupted him.

"What was that?" Sherlock asked.

"She'll call me back," Bucky began slowly, "I think…she's making a deal with the devil?"

Sam and Dean shared a worried look, then they shook their heads.

"That's impossible." Sam scoffed anxiously.

"Right; of course." Dean agreed quickly. "Totally."

Thor narrowed his eyes…then he gasped.

"Charlie isn't literally speaking with the devil right now….is she?"

Bucky and Clint shared a look, and Bucky rubbed a hand down his forehead.

"Aw…Crap."

* * *

 **Lucy**

Lucifer smiled brightly. "Hello!" He looked to Gabe, who sent him a long look. Lucifer's eyes widened. "Oh…You must be Charlie!" He hurried around the counter hand outstretched, and Steve stepped in front of her.

"Please tell me you're not actually the devil." He said lowly.

Lucifer tilted his head. "Now, normally I wouldn't hesitate to say something like that," He began, "But I'm really trying not to lie anymore, so…no can do!" He deftly stepped around the captain and shook Charlie's hand effusively. "Gabe's told me so much about you," He grinned. "Apparently, I owe you a debt."

Charlie shot Gabe a dark look, and he just shrugged. "He's really nice now, okay?" Gabe tried, and Charlie just rolled her eyes.

"I'm assuming the reason Gabe brought me here is so you can deliver on that debt." Charlie said after a moment. "I'm in the middle of a case that he must believe you can help with."

Lucifer took a step back and tilted his head. "What kind of a case?" He asked slowly. He winked at Cas, who watched him with narrowed eyes.

"One of my enemies is Crowley," Charlie began, and Lucifer hissed.

"He's not one of my fans," He admitted. "Sorry, please continue." Charlie nodded slowly.

"Anyway; he's brought someone back from the dead. We're unsure how he's done it,"

"And are also equally unsure as to how to undo it." Tony finished. He seemed unperturbed to have the devil standing in front of him, holding out his hand.

"I'm Tony Stark, by the way." He grinned. "You should be seeing me soon."

Lucifer raised a brow. "In Hell, you mean?" He shook his head. "I don't police that region any longer."

Bruce stepped up behind Tony, hiding half behind his science buddy. "So what do you do then?" He asked slowly.

Lucifer grinned. "This!" He waved a hand around, gesturing to his building. "I sell flowers." He simplified.

"This…" John said lowly. "Is terrifying."

"Really?" Lucifer made a face. Then he grinned. "I still got it!" He shook his head and turned back to Bruce.

"Running Hell was never really a walk in the park." He explained. "This is much more my forte."

"Selling flowers is your forte?" Cas said skeptically."

Lucifer shrugged. "Yes, it is."

"Back to my problem…" Charlie said slowly. "Do you think you can help?"

"Oh! Yes!" Lucifer nodded and strode to his back room. "Now, I'm not exactly sure which method Crowley used to bring the dead back onto the Earth, it could be any one of 17 ways,"

"There are 17 different ways to bring someone back to life?" Steve asked horrified. Lucifer nodded.

"Oh, yes. And there are twice as many ways to send them back to Hell…where they belong." Lucifer grinned, pulling a pad of paper and pen off of a cluttered desk. "But this," He began to scribble furiously on the paper, "Is the universal spell that can be used to send him back." He held the paper out to Cas, who stared at it suspiciously for a moment before snatching it quickly out of his hand.

Lucifer smirked and put his hands behind his back.

"Dude," Tony read the list over Cas' shoulder. "Eye of a 19th century war casualty? Where's Steve?" He grinned, but Steve crossed his arms angrily, and Tony raised his hands.

"It was a joke, 19th century war casualty." He turned back to the paper. "Blood of your enemies?" Tony turned back to Steve, "Hey Steve, you fit this one too!" At Steve's narrowed gaze, Tony turned back once more to the list.

"The half-eaten burrito of a 30-year old virgin?" Tony grinned. "Get Cap a," He paused mid conversation, smiling brightly. "Ah, never mind." Tony turned to Cas. "This can't be real."

"Unfortunately, it is." Cas said lowly.

"How are we supposed to get those kinds of ingredients?" Bruce crossed his arms.

Charlie shot Gabe a look, who turned to Lucifer with an imploring smile, but Lucifer shook his head. "The spell is free." He shrugged. "The ingredients are going to cost you."

Charlie looked at her group, and they shrugged. She huffed and turned to Lucifer.

"Alright." She began, "Let's deal."

* * *

"Charlie?" Bucky answered his phone quickly.

"Negotiations are done." Charlie began crisply. "We have a spell that will send Moriarty back to the land of the dead."

"Lottie…that's awesome." Bucky grinned. Then he frowned. "Were you really talking to the-"

"Yep." Charlie interrupted. "What do you got?"

"We have an address; some townhouse in a gated Community; the Western Hemisphere?" Bucky read off.

Charlie huffed. "That's the second and last place I ever lived in my old timeline…I'll give you one guess as to who was my roommate."

"Ryan?" Bucky guessed. Charlie grunted in the affirmative, and Bucky sighed. "Alright. Let's meet up and figure out our new game plan."

"Sounds good." Charlie agreed.

"Charlie?" Bucky said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked slowly.

"Don't lose heart. This thing is almost over."

Charlie huffed, part sigh part laugh. "How could I lose heart when I have you? See you in ten."

Bucky smiled as he pulled his phone from his ear.

"So?" Sam pressed. "Was it really?"

"The Devil? Yes." Bucky nodded. "But we're nearing the finish line guys, worry about the devil later."

"You're right." Dean nodded after a moment. "Let's just finish this."

* * *

 **We're nearing the end! I do believe our bad guys will be making an appearance next chapter, which will be up on Sunday...I PROMISE.**

 **~CLC~**


	15. 42

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **The Plan**

Conference Room Twelve was special to Charlie.

It was the only conference room on the floor that housed Charlie's office, but Charlie found Conference room twelve special for more than just the proximity.

Room Twelve was where she'd convinced Governor Case to run for President, where she'd signed the contract for each of the buildings she'd owned, where Ian had asked for advice on how to propose to his fiancé, where she'd told Bucky she was pregnant and that they were having twins.

Conference room twelve was where Charlie had made every major announcement and decision the past two years, and Charlie entered conference room twelve with her allies in tow with the strange fear that she may never enter the room again, after this confrontation with her three level tens.

* * *

Charlotte Dylan Eden Barnes sat down at the long table with her husband to her right and her closest friend to her left, and she shot them a wan smile that said a lot more than she'd wanted it to.

"This is it." Charlie began without preamble. "Whatever these guys' endgame is, it'll happen here." Charlie pointed a finger to the large map at the center of the table. "Thing is; they know we're coming."

"So the element of surprise is out." Sherlock surmised slowly.

"And we can't all go; some of us need to work the spell." Tony added.

"We'll need three teams." Bucky pulled the map towards him. "One team to work the spell, one to storm the building, and one to stay on surveillance."

"You think this is a trap." Tasha inferred.

"It's most definitely a trap." Clint corrected. "We only have three advantages."

"They don't know about the spell." Dean started,

"They don't know when we're coming," John continued,

"And they'll be expecting all of us at once." Thor finished.

"So." Bruce looked to Charlie. "Who's on Spell?"

Charlie looked down at the worn wood of the conference room table, silent. She let the silence lengthen as she thought. Then she looked up with a sigh.

"I have to do this." She said abruptly. "I can't let you guys go into this without having given you a chance."

"A chance?" Steve's eyes narrowed.

"You mean an out." Clint crossed his arms.

"Yes." Charlie looked directly at Clint. "This is dangerous, and it's not your fight. It's mine."

"Bull." Sherlock stood up. "These idiots and I did not show up to help you because we thought you incapable or ourselves indebted. We are here because you're facing a threat posed to you and your family by OUR enemies. These men are only against you because you're with us. Because you interfered on our behalf. This threat is OUR fault, and we will not scurry away just because you want to sacrifice yourself. In fact; the only two people who should even be given an out are you and your husband."

Charlie sighed and shook her head, but Clint stood as well.

"Loki was our problem before he was yours." He said bluntly. "If you want to sit out, we'll take him."

"This is our job." Thor added. "You have a family."

"You helped us out when Crowley was out to get us." Sam stood, joining Thor Clint and Sherlock on his feet.

Dean huffed as he too rose from his chair. "It's time we return the favor."

"Past time." Cas smirked as he stood next to Dean.

"This was never about you." Steve joined the standing, crossing his arms. "This is our problem."

"And we refuse to let you kick us off this case." Tasha rose, and Bruce did as well.

"We're in this, kid." Bruce shrugged.

Charlie shook her head slowly, turning to her husband. He simply smiled and joined the rest of the group all standing tall and proud.

"To the end of the line." He said softly, smiling when Charlie grabbed for his hand and held tightly.

"Well then." Charlie smiled at her allies, at her friends, eyes suspiciously bright. "It looks like we have a confrontation to plan."

"Sherlock, Tasha, I want you with Sam and Bruce working on the spell. Bobby will meet you at this warehouse." Charlie scrawled an address down on a piece of paper. "It's empty for the moment but owned by the Empire, and it's only two blocks away in case we need you as backup."

"How does the spell need to be administered?" Sherlock asked, and Charlie grimaced.

"A hex bag placed right over his heart." Sam answered, reading over the instructions and ingredients with a focused eye.

"How will we get it to Moriarty?" Tasha asked.

"Sam will have to call for Cas and if all else fails, someone will just have to jump through a window with it." Charlie shrugged, and Bruce nodded in acceptance.

"I love jumping into windows!" Bucky grinned and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Well, good, because you're on surveillance." Bucky grimaced, but nodded. "You, Steve and Cas will keep open contact with both teams, and if anything goes wrong you'll be backup and if necessary, our extraction team."

"And the rest of us?" John asked.

"You, Dean, Clint, Thor and Tony will storm the building. Tony, I want you on Moriarty, Thor, you'll be on your brother,"

Thor nodded his head slowly, and Charlie grimaced in apology. "Dean, you kill Crowley with sass, and Clint, and John"

"Ryan?" Clint guessed, and Charlie nodded.

"He's first priority, you shuffle as necessary," She advised. "Get him out as quickly as possible; he's their bargaining chip and I want him removed from their care ASAP."

"Understood." Tony squinted. "And what will you be doing?"

Charlie sighed heavily. "I'm on surveillance."

The entire team looked up at that with surprise.

"What?" Steve inquired, eyes bright.

"You guys are right." Charlie admitted. "They want me, but this is about you. If I refuse to give them what they want, maybe we can finish this with a minimum amount of casualties."

"Smart and Sexy." Bucky reached for his wife's hand. "Definitely someone who should be the mother of my children."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I AM the mother of your children," she chided, "And this is just logical."

"This is noble." Steve corrected. "Revenge is a hard thing to overcome, a hard thing to not fight for. And you've chosen to forego revenge in order to get justice. That's unheard of."

"No." Clint smiled. "That's just Charlie."

"Enough compliments." Charlie blustered. "We have three level tens to take care of. Does everyone understand their duties?" The team nodded seriously.

"Good. Let me just add one more thing to your lists." She pointed a finger at everyone. "You all make it out of this one. I want to see you all back in this conference room celebrating with copious amounts of drink once we beat these guys. Got it?"

Her demands broke the severity of the moment, and the group chuckled.

"Good." Charlie's eyes went dark with determination.

"Let's do this."

* * *

 **The Spell**

"Bobby!" Sam was the first into the warehouse and the first to reach Bobby Singer, shaking the man's hand warmly. "What's this about working for the government and babysitting kids?"

Bobby Singer, dressed in his signature plaid, shrugged. "Benefits and kids are fun. You should try it sometime."

Sam grinned and winked. "You might be seeing me around the office soon." He said slyly, and Bobby raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That a fact?" He grunted, and Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "You here to work the spell with us?"

Bobby nodded. "I've got the supplies and we're all set-up. But from what I understand we'll need a few sets of hands to get this all done."

Sam nodded. "Right. Which; this is Sherlock Holmes," Bobby shook Sherlock's hand.

"You're nothing like your brother." He mentioned idly, and Sherlock beamed.

"Thank you."

Sam rolled his eyes. "And Dr. Bruce Banner and Agent Natasha Romanoff. They'll be helping us with the spell."

"And when it's done?" Bobby crossed his arms.

Sam shrugged. "We call for Cas, and he'll get it where it needs to go."

"Right, now that we've covered the basics," Tasha jumped in, pulling on a pair of latex gloves, "Why don't we get started?"

Sherlock huffed in agreement and reached for his own set of gloves, and Bruce moved cautiously towards the supplies.

"Ok." He said, grimacing. "What do we do first?"

* * *

"Is it supposed to be purple?" Bobby made a face.

"No it's not." Sam answered tightly. "What did we do wrong?"

"Did you add the eyeball on the thirteenth stir?" Tasha asked.

Bruce grimaced. "We're supposed to be stirring it?"

Sherlock whirled toward Bruce angrily. "Are you absolutely STUPID?"

"Stop, Sherlock, that's not going to help." Sam ordered while Bruce flushed. "That was my fault anyhow. We don't have time to fight, we've got to fix this."

"Here." Tasha threw Sam a stirring spoon. "Stir counter-clockwise instead of clockwise thirteen times, then add the cactus juice. That should fix it."

Sam nodded and did as he was told. "How much time do we have left?" He asked.

"They storm the building in less than 13 minutes." Bobby reported, and Sam stirred a bit faster, Sherlock chopped more quickly, and Bruce's hands separated ingredients a bit more carelessly.

* * *

"How many trantula's did you add, Bruce?"

"Six." Bruce answered. "Why?"

"We need to add eight and there's only one more here."

Tasha growled. "Three minutes guys, can we please hurry this up?"

"Cas!" Sam called out, and Cas appeared immediately.

"Are you done?" He asked, slightly out of breath. Sam shook his head. "We need a tarantula in the next 30 seconds or we won't have a bag to send Moriarty back to hell."

Cas nodded and disappeared, appearing moments later with a spider in hand. He threw it to Tasha who caught it and quickly dropping it into the cauldron with a grimace and a shudder.

"The woman named after a spider…dislikes spiders?" Sherlock shook his head mockingly and Tasha shot him a glare.

"Stir, London Boy." She ordered, and Sherlock smirked but did as she demanded.

"How much longer?" Cas questioned.

"Less than a minute." Bruce promised, adding a drop of pink liquid into the cauldron. Cas nodded once and waited.

The bubbling mass in the cauldron began to bubble angrily before the liquid hissed loudly and with a bright flash disappeared, leaving a small bag in its wake. Sam used a white towel to pick up the bag and then handed it to Cas, who nodded once at the group and then disappeared.

Sam took a deep breath, and then laughed.

"We did it."

"Hopefully." Sherlock sniffed.

"We'll see." Bruce added.

"It's up to the other group now." Tasha crossed her arms. "Let's hope there are no surprises on that end.

Bobby snorted. "Like we're that lucky." He said dryly.

And uneasily, the rest of the group silently agreed.

* * *

 **Storming the Building:**

"Alright, are you guys ready?" Charlie eyed everyone with a critical eye.

Tony, wearing his suit with his helmet up, grinned. "We're so ready these guys won't know what him them." He promised.

"We'll take care of these villians." Thor promised.

"And we'll get your friend out, safe and sound." Clint added.

"And?" Charlie's eyes narrowed.

Dean rolled his eyes. "And we'll stay safe."

"Good." Charlie nodded. "Go get 'em, tigers."

"We'll be right behind you." Steve added, and the Team Storm piled out of the large black van parked just outside the housing complex.

John paused just before joining the rest of his group.

"Don't worry, Charlie." He promised. "Nothing will go wrong."

Charlie smiled slowly. "Of course it won't." She agreed. "We have luck on our side."

John smiled and shut the door behind him, and Charlie huffed.

"Since when have we ever had luck on our side?" Bucky asked dryly, and Cas nodded in agreement.

"Well," Charlie shrugged. "Now would be a good time for it to start, right?" She looked at her watch. "Alright." She stood. "Let's move out."

* * *

"Thor, you and Clint take the front door, John and Dean get in from the back and take the second floor. I'll break in through the third story window and work my way down. Agreed?"

"Got it Stark." Dean agreed.

Tony paused. "That's the first time I haven't received any snark from you." He smiled and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Don't get used to it," He warned, and Tony shrugged.

"I won't." He answered cheerily, taking to the air. Dean huffed and made his way towards the backyard, John at his heels, and Thor and Clint shared a look and began to count.

At 30, Thor ripped the front door off it's hinges and Clint slipped through, an arrow nocked and ready. Thor followed behind him, hammer gripped firmly in one hand.

But the house was empty.

Clint and Thor separated to canvas the entire first floor, and when Thor met the other three at the foot of the stairs, they all shared a confused shrug.

The house wasn't just empty of people, there wasn't one stick of furniture in the entire house.

"Guys! Kitchen!" Clint yelled suddenly, and the other four hurried to where Clint stood in front of what was the basement door, eyes catching on the smear of blood dripped down the center of the white wood.

Dean and John unlocked the safety on their guns, Thor adjusted his grip, and Tony nodded slowly at Clint, who kicked the door open and began to walk down the stairs.

The basement was pitch black, and though Clint and the others hunted for a lightswitch, there seemed to be none.

Tony used his suit to make a light, and as he walked around the room Clint slowly lowered his bow.

"Guys…." He began. "This doesn't feel right."

Tony's light flickered and then went out.

"What the…" Tony began to fiddle with his suit, but it seemed to have powered down on it's own and refused to come back on. All at once, four things happened.

Thor's hammer, Clint's bow and arrow, and both guns flew out of everyone's grip and zoomed up the stairs. Tony's suit forcibly ejected the man from inside, and Tony stumbled out, confused and angry as the suit fell useless to the ground. The door slammed shut and a bright light turned on, blinding the group.

Then a TV they hadn't noticed attached to the wall crackled and then turned on, showing the house across the street, and Charlie staring at a letter she'd taken from the mailbox.

Thor raced up the stairs to attempt to open the door and John and Dean began searching the walls for any way of escape. Tony cursed at his lifeless suit, pressing and pulling to no avail

And Clint watched the TV screen, head tilted as he attempted to come to terms with the new twist.

"Well, this wasn't a part of the plan." Clint said dumbly. "Now what?"

"This is why we have backup." John said reasonably.

"Yeah, and there's one of them." Dean pointed to the screen where Charlie had replaced the letter and marched resolutely towards the front door. "Where are the other two?"

"That's the question." Tony huffed.

"Although if we're honest with ourselves, they've probably also been detained somehow." Clint said ruefully.

"Why do you say that?" Thor asked.

"Because these guys were only after Charlie." Clint reasoned. "And now…." He shook his head at the screen. "That's exactly what they seem to have gotten."

The rest of the group was silent. Then John sighed.

"Well…Damn."

And that about summed it up.

* * *

 **Surveillance:**

Bucky watched Steve out of the corner of his eye as the man fidgeted, nervously scanning their surroundings. "You alright there?" Bucky asked slowly, and Steve jumped.

"Yup!" Steve answered quickly. "I'm right as rain, of course." Steve winced, and Bucky narrowed his eyes.

Everything had been fine, as Surviellance, they were waiting before taking their places, and then Cas had tilted his head, informed them Sam had called him, and disappeared. Steve had then ushered them out of the van ahead of schedule and towards the house like his pants were on fire, and then proceeded to say nothing as the strode forward. Bucky wasn't worried, persay, but Steve was starting to freak him out.

And then there was his wife. Bucky turned towards Charlie, who walked a few feet behind them, arms wrapped around herself.

"You alright?" He asked concerned, and Charlie nodded.

"Yup." She smiled. "Right as rain." Bucky rolled his eyes. "It's weird to be here?" He guessed, and Charlie nodded.

"Beyond weird." She shuddered slightly. "And….this just feels off. It's quiet, you know?"

"Yeah." Bucky surveyed the area. "It's too quiet."

Steve snorted nervously, and Bucky turned to him.

"Cliché." He explained away, not making eye contact. Bucky raised a brow at Charlie, and Charlie narrowed her eyes.

"You have that address?" She asked suddenly, and Steve froze.

"Yes." He nodded once.

Charlie waited a moment, then she shot Bucky an exasperated look. "Can I see it?" She said slowly, and Steve nodded, reaching into his pocket for a small slip of paper.

Charlie grabbed for it, but Steve let go a moment too soon and it caught wind, flying a few feet away. Bucky stepped forward to get it, but Charlie waved him off and went for it herself. Bucky turned on Steve, not realizing that they now stood in front of the house that half their team had just infiltrated.

"What's with you?" Bucky hissed, and Steve jumped…again. "You're acting like you have something to hide, and right now is the WORST time to be hiding something." Bucky crossed his arms.

Steve made guilty eye contact with Bucky. "Whatever happens…" He began slowly, "You have to trust me."

Bucky's eyes narrowed, and over Steve's shoulder, he saw Charlie read Steve's small slip of paper and her eyes widen. He took a step towards her, but Steve pushed him back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bucky asked darkly, and Steve's jaw tightened.

"I'm doing what I have to." Bucky's heart dropped, and a loud bang from the house behind him had him jerking around.

Steve met Charlie's wide gaze, and he looked pointedly to the house across the street. Her eyes widened, then she slowly turned around as well.

Bucky ran towards the front door, and after a moment, Steve followed him. Both men distracted, Charlie began to walk in the opposite direction they'd gone….to the house across the street.

Bucky fumbled with the door, confused to find it locked….Team Storm should've just come through. He looked over the door and saw that it was cracked and the hinges were bent, which was usually how a door looked when it had been ripped of the hinges: but the door refused to budge. Bucky turned to relay this information to Steve to find his eyes drawn across the street, to where his wife was just entering the front door. He opened his mouth to yell, but all of a sudden a sympathetic Steve was gripping his shirt and then punching him solidly in the face.

The last thing Bucky was aware before he fell unconscious was Steve throwing his limp body over his shoulder and a whispered;

 _"Trust me."_

* * *

 **Stupid**

Harper was the unluckiest person on the planet, and going into the final confrontation, she knew it.

And she planned for all contingencies.

As much as everyone had claimed this was their fight, Charlie was well aware that it wasn't. So when putting teams together, she'd made herself available.

So when Cas had disappeared and Steve had started acting squirrely, she knew something was up.

She'd asked for the address to confirm she was just being crazy, but Steve wasn't clumsy enough to randomly throw a piece of paper directly into the wind and away from them. So she'd left Bucky and Steve on the sidewalk to go and get it, and when she read it; her heart sank.

Charlie's townhouse was the first home she lived in without her parents, and the address was one that would always stick with her.

733 Vine Road.

Or, in other words, Red Vine Road.

But the address on that paper, the one that Steve had thrown and Moriarty had led them to, read 377 Vine Road.

Charlie looked up to find Steve and Bucky arguing, and then she looked past them, to the house Steve had stopped in front of, 377. The house was a view she recognized…. She'd seen it every time she'd looked out her bedroom…and Charlie turned with a grimace to the house across the street.

733 Vine Road.

This whole thing had been a trap. Moriarty had led her men into to the wrong house...the house across the street.

Charlie heard a loud bang, but she didn't turn around.

The flag on her mailbox was up, and it required her attention more than the noise had.

In the mailbox was an envelope.

 _Charlie,_ the front read.

The note inside was just as simple.

 _The door's unlocked._

 _Make yourself at home._

 _Rhino's waiting._

It was signed simply, _LL_

Charlie nodded once, then marched forward, ignoring the shouting behind her, the sounds of a scuffle, she ignored everything, and wrenched open the front door of her old home.

They wanted her to come in alone?

Fine.

She didn't need anyone else.

She'd take them all out herself.

* * *

 **Heh. Red Vine Road.**

 **I'm hilarious.**

 **Guys...3 MORE CHAPTERS!**

 **~CLC~**


	16. Now You See Me

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **Traitor**

"What's going on?"

Bucky came to at the sound of Cas' voice, and he lurched upright before he even fully remembered why exactly he was on the ground.

"Rogers!" He growled, lunging for his pale faced former best friend, but Cas stopped him.

"Barnes." Cas frowned, confused. "Where are the others? What's happened?"

"Ask HIM." Bucky snarled, and Steve raised his hands in surrender.

"Where's Team Spell?" He asked Cas, stalling.

"They're awaiting further instructions." Cas bit out. "What about Team Storm?"

Steve hesitated. "They're…locked in a basement, currently listening to our conversation.

Cas narrowed his eyes, and Bucky threw his hands into the air, pacing. "What?"

"They're safe." Steve promised. "They're trapped and weaponless, but they're safe."

Cas shook his head and turned to Bucky, whose eyes were narrowed into angry slits. "What's going on?" Cas asked of Bucky.

"HE-" Bucky snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Steve, "let my wife walk into a trap and stopped me from following her!"

Cas turned to Steve, who shook his head.

"It's not how it sounds." Steve promised. Cas raised an eyebrow.

"So you DIDN'T let Charlie walk into a trap?" He asked dryly.

"Well….technically I did." Steve hedged.

"And you didn't stop Bucky from following?" Cas added.

"No…." Steve cringed. "I did that too."

Cas crossed his arms. "Why?"

Steve sighed. "Because we're wrong."

Bucky hissed and Steve flinched, and Cas rolled his eyes.

"Explain further." He prodded.

"And do it fast." Bucky warned.

Steve gulped.

But then he opened his mouth.

* * *

 **Tied and Trapped**

Well…that hadn't worked.

Charlie jerked awake, jumping so hard that the chair she'd been tied to fell to the floor in a loud crash.

Charlie groaned slightly, freezing when a deep voice asked,

"Hey! Are you Okay?" Charlie's head turned, and she smiled in relief.

"Rhino! You're not dead!"

Ryan Azariah Blane rolled his eyes. "Not yet, although seeing as my rescuer is in about the same condition as I am, I'd say that won't be true for much longer."

Charlie flipped her hair out of her face. "Please." She said dismissively. "I have superpowers. We'll be fine."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Not anymore you don't."

"Say what?" Charlie furrowed her brow and Ryan sighed heavily.

"Don't you remember?"

Charlie squinted, then shook her head. "It's all a blur." She admitted.

"Right." Ryan sighed. "He hit you pretty hard. Look; you burst in, saw me tied up, untied me, than tried your glitch thing…."

"And it didn't work?" Charlie guessed. Ryan shrugged and Charlie huffed. "Figures. Well, then what happened?"

"We happened." An accented voice spoke up, and Charlie made a face.

"Right." Ryan grimaced. "What he said."

Charlie made a face, and then two hands were lifting her chair and righting it, and Charlie took in the room, ignoring for the moment the three men in front of her.

They were on the second floor, Charlie saw from the uncovered window. The room was bare except for the two chairs she and Ryan were tied to, and while Moriarty pointed a gun at Ryan, the other two seemed unarmed.

"I can't glitch?" She addressed the three in front of her. "What is this madness?"

"Not madness." Crowley countered. "He's enough madness on his own." Crowley pointed to Moriarty, who smiled brightly. "It is simply a spell that renders this entire building a," Crowley tilted his head. "Black hole, if you will. While in this building none of us can do any sort of magic."

"Isn't that a bad thing?" Charlie narrowed her eyes. "It kind of makes the playing field even."

"Really?" Ryan blurt out. "What about the fact that we're tied up and they're not?"

Charlie winced. "Well, there is that." She admitted. "But it still leaves them a little vulnerable."

"How?" Moriarty pulled a face. "I have a gun." He waved it around, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"It just does, don't argue with me Morri."

Moriarty gasped in outrage at the nickname, and promptly shot Charlie in the leg. Her head dropped and her eyes squeezed shut, and Ryan screamed…loudly, and shrilly.

"No!" Crowley admonished. "Bad Moriarty!" And he pulled the gun from Moriarty's grip. He tutted pathetically, then shrugged.

"That was uncalled for," Crowley apologized.

Charlie opened one eye. "You think?" She gritted out.

"We're not here to hurt you." Crowley promised. "If anything, we'd like to make a deal."

Charlie was silent for a moment. Then she snorted. "Really? All of this;" She eyed the room and her bleeding leg, "to offer me a deal? Why not schedule a meeting? Or, I dunno," Charlie's eyebrows furrowed, "answer one of my TEXTS." She shot Loki a look, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"Because this way is just much more FUN." Moriarty grinned and Crowley rolled his eyes.

"Believe it or not all of today's little charades DO have a point." Crowley said lightly.

"Besides dredging up the fact that the life I had before this and the family I left behind I'll never have or see again?"

Moriarty furrowed his eyebrows. "No…that's a pretty good summary of our motive." He acknowledged brightly.

"Wonderful." Charlie rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"I find that when making deals it's always best to remind clients of what they're missing. Sometimes through subtle means,"

"And sometimes not." Charlie raised a brow in Ryan's direction, and Crowley shrugged.

"You have to admit you're not the most observant individual." Crowley pointed out, and Charlie shrugged in agreement. "But!" Crowley added brightly, "We don't really need him for the rest of this conversation." Crowley nodded at Moriarty and the man smiled, pulling another gun from inside his jacket and hitting Ryan in the side of the head.

Charlie winced at the loud crack, and then sent a condescending look Crowley's way. "Was THAT really necessary?"

Crowley pursed his lips, but then he nodded. "Actually yes. He would've been a distraction, and we," Crowley grinned. "We have business to discuss."

Charlie sighed in understanding, but then her eyes narrowed.

"No." She said suddenly, and Crowley, Moriarty, and Loki froze, even though he hadn't moved up to this point, he too became stiller than before at Charlie's outburst.

"No?" Crowley repeated lightly.

Charlie's eyes flashed. "No." She said again firmly.

"I'm done."

* * *

 **Choice**

"That's crap."

Steve shook his head. "No it's not Bucky, and if you would just wait;"

"You expect me to stake my wife's life on the fact that one of the villains we've been dealing with the past three days could _maybe possibly_ be a double agent?" Bucky shook his head. "You want me to stand out here and wait for my wife to maybe walk out that door on her own? Fat chance, Rogers."

"Charlie has a chance." Steve blurt out, and Bucky's eyes narrowed. Cas watched the two closely.

"A chance for what?" Bucky snapped.

"A chance to do something she's been trying to do since she got stuck here." Steve said lowly. "And no matter how the offer's come about, she deserves a chance to choose.

Bucky's gaze dropped to the floor and he growled.

"A chance to choose what?" Cas asked.

It was Bucky that answered.

"Charlie finally has a chance," he began wearily, "to go home."

Cas tilted his head.

"But this is her home." He said unhelpfully.

Steve made a face and Bucky sighed, and the three turned to the house across three street, a sinking feeling in all three mens chest.

THIS was Charlie's home now.

Wasn't it?

* * *

 **The Deal**

"I'm done." Charlie repeated herself. "I'm done with the clues, and the subterfuge, and the fire, and the threats, and you three, and getting shot," Charlie winced as she swung her leg, "and all of this crap. I'm not playing this game anymore, so you know what? Just Suck it! No deal!"

Crowley, Moriarty and Loki shared a look.

"Well," Moriarty said after a long moment. "That was certainly….emphatic."

"And it makes our job much easier." Crowley admitted. "She's chosen our course for us."

"But shouldn't we at least see if she would like to hear our offers?" Moriarty asked gleefully.

"I don't know," Crowley began with an air of indifference, "she wasn't very nice just now: maybe she doesn't deserve to hear them." Crowley sneered at Charlie. "Any thoughts?"

Charlie sagged in her restraints, eyes downcast. "I'm stuck here until you see fit to put me out of my misery." She said dryly. "Please, enlighten me. What _is_ behind door number one?"

Suddenly Loki, who Charlie had maybe thought was actually just a statue and not the real thing, was moving, his hands gripping the armrests of Charlies chair and his eyes, bright green and flashing, were boring into hers.

"Door number one is you go home." He bit out.

Charlie tilted her head. "Home?" She asked faintly.

"Home." Loki repeated, voice raspy. "Door number one includes your little friend here, and you, and going home to your family and your former life."

"That doesn't really sound like a punishment." She argued, and Loki smirked slightly.

"It's not supposed to be."

"Think of it as a mutually beneficial decision." Crowley explained, and Loki took a step back, eyes going dull as he moved away and Crowley once more took over. "You're out of our hair, back with the family you love, and we can get back to our own, separate devices without a busybody constantly messing everything up."

"I have a family here." Charlie said slowly.

"Sweetheart." Moriarty tutted loudly. "You're family here isn't real."

Charlie's eyes flashed. "Well it sure as hell feels real to me."

"Luckily," Crowley interrupted, "this isn't a choice between one family and another."

"Oh?" Charlie tilted her head in surprise. "Then what am I choosing between?"

"You're choosing specifically for this universe; do they get a life without you, or a life without…" Moriarty paused, "…everyone else?"

Charlie narrowed her eyes and Crowley stepped forward to explain.

"You see, Charlie, if you decide you want to stay, the three of us begin checking off our own little hit list. Starting with sweet old Ryan here, and then we'll move on to The Avengers, and the Winchesters, The Holmes brothers, and Watson, and then your handsome little family as well."

"What?" Charlie breathed. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Because without heroes, we find ourselves, as villains, without anyone to entertain and combat us?" Crowley guessed.

"You need them." Charlie agreed. "Why would you kill them?"

"Because as much as we need them, we even more don't need you on their side."

"With you, our objectives become obsolete." Crowley nodded. "We no longer have any hope of success and thusly, either we need to get rid of you, or get rid of them."

"I'm not the big deal that you're making me out to be." Charlie argued.

"Except you are." Loki spoke, for only the second time thus far. "You are incredibly talented and unfortunately very well-equipped, and you in turn equip your allies- our enemies- and they in turn completely wipe us out every time."

"We are much too dependant on their ability to challenge us," Crowley admitted,

"But add you to the equation and it's not a challenge for us any longer." Moriarty shrugged. "It's a massacre."

"So this is your choice. Leave….or everyone dies."

Charlie stared uncomprehendingly at the three men before her, and her mouth opened…but there was no possible rebuttal.

Charlie's "choice" was anything but.

"So either way I go," she began slowly, "I get hurt." She shook her head.

"It's simply a matter of do you suffer alone...or not? I know misery loves company," Moriarty squinted as he thought, "But you see much to noble for that."

Charlie laughed bitterly. "Why are you doing this? Why now?" She spat. "After all these years?"

Crowley's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward to answer.

"Because while I've tried and been unsuccessful attempting to move past the failures you've forced upon me simply by EXISTING, You've been living the high life. You're overly self-reliant on powers you shouldn't take for granted, too comfortable in a life you should never have had, and much too famous in a world you don't belong in. You are a colossal, universal mistake, and a huge personal pain in my rear. And you ask me why I'm doing this?" Crowley laughed mockingly. "The real question here isn't why NOW…it's why not SOONER?"

Charlie's lips had tightened the longer Crowley had spoken, and with his final question her heard turned away, her eyes shutting tightly in a futile attempt to block out his harsh words.

Crowley's eyes gleamed with triumph. "No quick retort now then?" He goaded.

Charlie's eyes opened slowly. "Retort? Yes. Quick? Not exactly." She turned her head to make eye contact; her eyes first falling upon Loki, who flinched at her direct gaze. After a moment, she turned her attention to Crowley.

"You're right." She acknowledge wearily. "I don't belong here. I never did. But I made myself fit; and in doing that I found a way to stand out. The moment I collapsed onto the floor of a Secret SHIELD base the life I planned to live flew out the window, and so did all of yours. I forced myself into this world and changed everything along the way." Charlie tilted her head. "But you're wrong."

"About what?" Crowley snapped, peeved.

Charlie began to smile, and Crowley began to feel uneasy.

"I'm not too self-reliant on my powers." Charlie's smile grew. "In fact, I rarely glitch at all. I much prefer a more organic means of escape, and I always, ALWAYS, Charlie stressed, "have a plan B."

Moriarty snorted. "I do believe this IS, your plan B." He looked mockingly about the room, at the unconscious tied up hostage, at Charlie tied up herself, at his fellow villains and the weapons they held.

Charlie grinned. "And Plan B is going so well, I think it's time for Plan C."

Crowley had just enough time to furrow his eyebrows, and then everyone was being showered in broken glass as a body jumped through the window.

* * *

 **Back-up**

 _A few minutes previous_

"Okay. I'm done waiting." Bucky stood up from where'd he'd been sitting on the curb and began to make his way towards his wife.

"Bucky, just give it a few more minutes-"

"NO." Bucky whirled around. "My best friend would never ask me to leave my wife at the mercy of three highly dangerous criminals. He would've never kept such a huge secret from me, and he would've NEVER punched me in the face."

Steve smiled wryly. "Well, Clint's a little busy right now, so you're stuck with me."

"And I get you're reasoning behind all of your actions." Bucky admitted. "But right now, I'm going to go get my wife." Bucky began to march again towards the house Charlie was currently; if Steve was telling the truth, being offered a deal in and this time, Steve didn't stop him.

Cas did though.

"Barnes." Bucky huffed but stopped and turned. Cas smiled. "If you plan on breaking in, this might be helpful." Cas tossed Bucky a small brown bag that he caught on reflex. Bucky smirked and shook his head, but he pocketed the little bag and continued walking towards the wife who needed him.

* * *

 **Pivot**

The window breaking was the sound of the beginning of the end.

Loki leapt for Ryan, pulling his limp form out of the way and standing guard, watching with wide eyes as Charlie began to rip through her bindings with a knife her Ally had thrown her way and Crowley grappled with Charlie's husband.

Moriarty fumbled for the gun he'd dropped when the window exploded and Charlie rushed forward, fisting both hands into his suit and pushing his body hard enough to propel him straight into the wall. Charlie slammed Moriarty's head into the wall until Moriarty went unconscious, and then releasing his body as she whirled around.

"Pivot!" Charlie cried, and Bucky immediately fell to one knee, allowing Charlie to jump over him and land a punch on the demons face.

As Charlie turned her attention to Crowley Bucky reached for Ryan, but a pale hand wrapping around his wrist stopped him.

Bucky looked up at Loki and smiled slowly.

Loki's eyes widened, and then Bucky was head-butting him and swinging a knife towards his face.

Loki raised an arm to protect his face and Bucky sliced a long gash through his forearm. Hissing at the pain, Loki twisted himself out from underneath Bucky and stood, pausing to check his arm.

"PIVOT!" Bucky ordered and Charlie turned slightly to jab Loki in the back, causing the man to fall to his knees.

Bucky lunged for Crowley and pulled the man away from Charlie, delivering a well-deserved punch to the demon's face.

The sound of a gun cocking had everyone freezing; Crowley kneeling, with Bucky standing over him, one hand fisted in the demon's shirt and the other held in a fist and pulled back, and Loki, sitting on top of Charlie holding both of her hands over her head.

Moriarty raised a brow at Bucky, gun pointed in his direction, and with a sigh Bucky released Crowley and stepped away. Loki stood and shot Charlie a look before moving towards Crowley.

Charlie sat up slowly and wiper at her bleeding lip. "Gentlemen," She drawled, "Meet James. My other half."

Crowley sniffed. "Well, he's certainly not your better half, what with this screw-up of a rescue mission.

Bucky and Charlie shared a look.

"This wasn't a rescue mission." Charlie rolled her eyes.

"This was a take-out."

* * *

 **Plan D**

The three villains frowned, and Charlie swung her legs at Moriarty's feet, tripping the man. Crowley lurched forward but Bucky intervened, shoving the demon away.

"PIVOT!" He yelled, fishing a small bag out of his pocket and tossing it towards his wife. Charlie caught it deftly and immediately placed it over Moriarty's heart.

The bag began to glow an eerie orange color the second it made contact with Moriarty and then the bag seeped into the villain's chest.

Loki grabbed the back of Charlie's t-shirt and threw her off of Moriarty, and not a second too soon, as Moriarty's entire body burst into flames.

The fire that used to be Moriarty burned bright and hot for less than a minute before it put itself out, leaving nothing but a small pile of ash.

"Talk about burning the heart out of someone." Charlie joked wryly. Bucky rolled his eyes.

Crowley hissed, fists clenching.

"And the lineup looks a bit more even now." Bucky snarked, eyes narrowed.

"Even?" Loki scoffed. "I happen to disagree." The God of Mischief snapped smartly with one hand, and Charlie tensed…but nothing happened.

She looked to Bucky in confusion to find her husband…frozen. He didn't move, didn't blink, didn't even breathe.

Crowley was much the same, Charlie found, and she turned to gape at Loki.

"Dude." She gasped. "What did you do?"

"I," Loki stressed, "did nothing."

"Ah, right." A new voice chimed in from around the corner. "Sorry about that."

Charlie tilted her head at the familiar voice, eyes widening as the figure entered the room.

The man, his brown hair tousled, suit wrinkled beyond repair, and converse slightly dirty, smiled bashfully.

"That was me."

Charlie nodded slowly. She knew this man…but not from this universe. This man was from her own universe…from her TV screen, to be exact. Charlie inclined her head and did her best to greet the man as normally as possible.

"Doctor."

* * *

 **Plan D...for DOCTOR!**

 **This has been the plan since Glitch! I'm so excited, SQUEEE!**

 **~CLC~**


	17. About Time

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **Allies**

"Please tell me I'm not hallucinating."

Loki crossed his arms and shrugged. "You're not hallucinating." He repeated dutifully. "In fact;" He smiled, "You really are tied up and bleeding out, seated next to the best friend you never thought you'd see again and standing in front of two fictional characters, one of whom has been a double agent since the beginning and the other of whom belongs in this dimension about as much as you do."

Charlie blinked several times, in quick successions. "That's a lot to take in." She admitted.

Loki and the man at his side laughed.

"Well, I'd say take your time," the man smiled wryly, but we don't really have any to spare."

Charlie nodded slowly. "Alright. Let's start with the obvious; _how are you here?!"_

The man Charlie knew as the doctor…as TEN, tilted his head. "You wouldn't rather start with being untied? Or doing something about that leg? Or asking the villain to my right which side he's really on?"

Charlie shook her head impatiently. "None of that's important!" She blurt out. "How are you here?!"

The doctor grinned, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"You have no chill." Loki accused, moving to untie Charlie.

She made a face that he didn't see. "Shut up, I'm mad at you." Loki grimaced but went silent, and the Doctor finally began to explain.

"Your friend here, along with the other two unsavory types," The doctor shot a disgusted look towards the fallen Moriarty and the frozen Crowley, "used their admittedly impressive combined skills to pull me from my own dimension and demand I help them find a way to reopen the void."

"The what?" Charlie interrupted, pulling her now free arms onto her lap, vigorously rubbing feeling back into her hands.

"Ah, right." The doctor nodded quickly. "You're not aware of that. You see," The doctor began to pace as he explained, hands waving wildly. "While Loki here subconsciously pulled you from your dimension and into his, he would not have been able to do had the void not been open."

"The void being like, some wall between dimensions, making sure that nothing crosses over illegally?"

The doctor tilted his head. "Well…yes. Exactly." Ten shot a surprised look towards Loki, who shrugged.

"I told you she was smart." He responded, moving to examine Charlie's leg.

"That you did. Well! The void is a very fluid wall, very similar to time in that…"

"It's mostly unexplainable?" Charlie guessed, and the Doctor grinned.

"Yes. The Void, though extremely powerful and utterly unexplainable," ten winked, "does over time create weak spots, where dimensions have pressed against the Void too consistently and with too much force, and while the Void can strengthen these spots as necessary and self-heal, the weak spots have been known to…well…"

"Burst open?" Charlie guessed, and the Doctor nodded.

"In those moments, dimensions are available to each other, and things, and people," Ten raised a brow, "can fall through the cracks. So these weak spots are never left open for long, because every time there is a burst, a dimension changes its course entirely."

"Like this one did, when I showed up?" Charlie nodded in understanding. "So you're saying this was a right place right time, right when I approved Loki, his magic found me and threw me through a weak spot just as it burst open?"

The doctor smiled brightly.

"Exactly! You're quite brilliant you know." Charlie flushed bright red and for a moment lost the ability to speak, and Loki snickered.

"But…I fell through the cracks a few times." Charlie pointed out. "Was I falling through different weak spots each time?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I….don't actually know. That's one theory."

"Another is that my magic created a bond between your dimension and ours, and that's what you traveled when you went back and forth." Loki said dryly, standing and scrutinizing the makeshift tourniquet he'd fashioned.

"And when you trapped me here?" Charlie asked reproachfully.

Loki winced. "I snapped the thread."

Charlie shook her head. "So….you and the other two clowns found out HOW I got here in the first place, how did you go from that to finding a way to jump over, grab Ryan, bring him back here, and have the knowledge to be able to send us both back?"

"Ah, well, that's where I come in." The Doctor smiled. "I'm quite brilliant at a good many things,"

"Agreed." Charlie said promptly. "And?"

"One of those things I'm brilliant at is finding weak spots,"

"And poking them till they burst open?" Charlie guessed, and The Doctor shrugged.

"More or less."

"So you're ripping holes into the void for the bad guys." Charlie raised a brow.

"Correction." The doctor said smoothly. "I'm ripping holes into the void for YOU."

Charlie gasped and her eyes widened. "For ME?" She squeaked.

The doctor nodded somberly.

"You're enemies here attempted to threaten me to do their bidding, yes, but I refused." The Doctor shot Loki an impressed look. "And then Loki here pulled me aside, and while pretending to further threaten me, told me his real intent in Allying himself with those idiots."

Charlie narrowed her eyes in confusion, and Loki sighed.

"I trapped you here and I could find no way to rectify that mistake." He admitted. "So I reluctantly agreed to assist those two stooges in order to further my own personal motive."

"So….you've been a good guy this whole time?" Charlie concluded.

Loki inclined his head. "I admit, we have reached this moment not of my own willpower."

"Meaning?" Charlie pressed.

"I roped a reluctant Rogers into assisting. He made sure most of your team went into the wrong building, and he most likely is the one who gave your dear husband that black eye."

Charlie winced at the shiner under her husband's right eye.

"I needed time to ensure you could make your choice." Loki explained gently. "Had the Avengers just rushed in when they'd wanted, or your husband attempted to interfere, the decision would've been compromised."

Charlie furrowed her brows. "What decision?"

"Ah. Well. You see," The Doctor smiled. "I agreed to help Loki, for you, but I had conditions. I would only help him open two weak spots, and I would only hold them open for a certain amount of time."

"So you see, Charlie," Loki added smoothly, "You still have a choice to make…minus the death to all clause if you choose this dimension."

"But you don't have much time." The Doctor admitted. "The weak spots like to move."

Charlie nodded slowly. "Just…just give me a second to think."

* * *

 **Choices**

Charlie's parents spent half of her childhood fighting a war, and the other half trying to teach her about the goodness in the world.

It hadn't seemed ironic to Charlie at the time, she'd been nine and she thought her parents were superheroes, and everything they said was law, so the idea that they used guns and weapons to defend a country made of sunshine and rainbows didn't seem too far-fetched.

And then came the teenage years and on-screen superheroes and yes, the world was a messed up place, but there was always hope.

Charlie realized up close and personal when she'd been sent overseas, that life was hardly so simply, and there was no quick fix. But she wanted to try…and she wanted to do what she could to make a difference.

Being forcibly ejected from her home-world and then blacklisted from ever returning hadn't seemed opportune at the time, but she'd been able to do something here, that she never would've been able at home….

She'd changed the world.

And while her children would go where she went, her husband could not. He had to stay in this dimension.

Her dad, brother and Ryan were there…but her babies and her husband…they were HERE.

So the choice was really very simply.

Charlie smiled. Going home had been her priority five years ago.

She had different priorities now.

"I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

 **Goodbyes**

Loki smiled in relief, but then he frowned. "Are you sure?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I'm positive. I may regret not having had a chance to say goodbye, but I have too many idiots here who wouldn't last a day without me, and I'm partial to my own idiot." Charlie jerked a thumb towards where Bucky was frozen, and both the doctor and Loki chuckled.

"Well….." Ten thought for a moment. "I have to send the other one back anyway, what would it hurt?"

"What would what hurt?" Charlie's eyes narrowed.

"I can hold the pocket open for about an hour without completely burning up your sun." The Doctor explained quickly. "Does an hour give you enough time to take care of those goodbye regrets?"

Charlie's eyes widened, and she grinned. "More than." She nodded, and The Doctor beamed.

"Well then!" Ten clapped his hands.

"Allonsy!"

* * *

Home.

Five years ago home was a two story craftsman house with blue paint and white trim and a red door, with clean cut grass and trees everywhere, and a backyard to die for.

It was a home Charlie had seen burst into flames not hours previous.

And yet in this dimension, the house still stood, paint not as vivid as her memories, but just as precious. The house was worn with age but well cared for, and Charlie stood on the sidewalk, uncertain as to how to proceed.

"Just go knock." Ten advised slowly, and Charlie huffed.

"I would…if my feet would move." She admitted. Ten smiled and nudged her forward lightly.

"In my vast experience and knowledge," He began, "most people are pretty open to the possibilities of miracles."

"I don't have an unlimited time to explain away this mystery though," Charlie argued, and Ten chuckled.

"Yes, you're, right. My advice then? Don't."

"Don't explain?" Charlie crossed her arms, and Ten nodded.

"Exactly. My existence at your side is proof of the impossible and instead of overthinking the moment, just advise them to live it."

Charlie nodded and turned toward the door again. She took a deep breath and braced herself…and then, finally, she began to move.

She made it less than three steps before the front door burst open and two laughing children escaped, chasing one another. A man, tall and gray-haired with a face more wrinkle-lined than Charlie remembered, stepped onto the front porch.

"Be nice to your brother, Char!" The man called out.

Charlie choked, eyes filling without her permission. "When have I ever been known to do that?" She teased, unable to stop herself, and the man she simultaneously recognized and also didn't, froze.

His face went through a spread of emotions so quickly that Charlie nearly didn't catch them all: confusion, recognition, shock, and then, pure joy.

Charlie's father leapt off the porch and ran forward, breaking into a wide grin and sweeping his long lost daughter into a hug. Charlie wrapped her arms around the man and buried her face in his neck.

And for the moment, no explanations or words were necessary.

The time for explanations never came.

All Charlie had gotten through was the "I can't explain, I have an hour but then I'm gone again," and her father had shaken his head and said explanations weren't necessary; they only had an hour, they'd take advantage of every second.

He'd called in Devon, Charlie's older brother who'd been fixing something in the garage, and Charlie spent four minutes being crushed to death by the punk big brother she never thought she'd see again.

Then Charlie's father had pulled Devon away, whispered furiously to him for a few minutes, and Devon nodded and went in search of his wife. He returned quickly with a bag and a set of keys, nodding to his father seriously.

That was when Charlie noticed Ten had taken his leave…he hadn't been needed after all.

When Devon pulled into a cemetery not five minutes later, Charlie looked to her dad with bright eyes.

"Your mother should be here for this." He said gruffly, and Charlie nodded quickly.

She agreed.

* * *

"Five years condensed into an hour." Devon smiled widely at his father and long-lost sister, the three of them seated on a worn flannel blanket, just a few feet from the tombstones Charlie recognized from a threatening video, one of them her own. "Who first?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Age before beauty," she quipped, and Devon scoffed, though his smile never left his face.

"Alright; short version? I have three kids, one adopted, I burnt out of secret service, but I'm now the head of security at a local college, which is it's own brand of insanity. I'm still with Kaitlyn, we live with dad at the childhood home, and when we lost mom four years after you, it was hard to keep going. But this helped."

Charlie dropped her gaze to the small journal Devon had handed her, and her eyes widened.

"You read my diary?"

"At first, I did not know it was your diary." He smirked. "I thought it was a very sad, handwritten book."

Charlie shook her head ruefully. "You couldn't have believed it...what I wrote." She looked to her father, who shrugged.

"We didn't…but there seemed no other explanation for your disappearance, so we spoke to Ryan, and he confirmed it. And this, you here, now?" Charlie's dad reached for her hand. "This is further confirmation."

Charlie smiled softly and Devon leaned forward with a bright smile. "So. A half hour left. Please regale us with all of the people you've met and the lives you've changed."

Charlie smiled. "I should probably start with this." She held up her left hand, and Devon grabbed it with shock and pulled it forward.

"Alright." He said after he'd fully examined it. "Who's the lucky guy? A normal dude?"

"Hardly." Charlie snorted.

"Of course not." Devon rolled his eyes. "Only the best for you. So? Captain America?" Charlie made a face.

"That moose dude? From the monsters show?" Charlie shot her father a surprised look. He shrugged. "I assume more shows are reality than just the avengers," He inferred.

"You'd be right." Charlie nodded. "But also wrong. I'm not married to Sam."

Her father and Devon shared a look, then Devon snapped his fingers. "That dude with the metal arm." He guessed. "You fell in love with him from the second he came on screen in Cap 2."

Charlie winked, and Devon beamed in triumph. Then he frowned.

"That guy must've been horribly damaged when you found him."

"I was trapped in a universe filled with heroes and monsters and aliens." Charlie raised her brows. "I missed my family horribly and was on my own a lot of the time. I was my fair share of damaged as well." She smiled softly. "We fixed each other."

She straightened and reached into her coat. "We've been married for almost two years and have two adorable children." She pulled out a few photos that Loki had given her before Ten had traveled her here, (he'd come prepared,) and handed them to her family. Devon and her father tilted their heads close together as they smiled at her wedding photos and the two babies.

"Shotgun wedding?" Devon looked up with a raised brow and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Honeymoon conception." She corrected, and Devon nodded, satisfied.

"Twins?" Her father asked.

"Reagan Cassandra and Theodore Steven." She informed, and her father smiled. "I named him after the two noblest men I could think of." She explained softly. "Captain America…and my father."

Her father shook his head and furtively rubbed his eyes, turning back to the photos. Devon handed them over and shot Charlie a look.

"I can deal with this being our goodbye…" He began slowly. "If you can tell me that you're happy."

Charlie sighed. "I'm happier than I ever thought I'd be." She admitted. Devon studied her for a minute, and then he nodded once.

"That's all I need to know."

The rest of that hour passed quickly.

Too quickly.

* * *

"Was it hard?" Ten asked as they walked away from Charlie's old home and toward her new universe.

"Goodbyes are always hard." Charlie admitted. "But I don't regret my decision." She added. "My family here is happy…and the idiots on that side of the void need me."

Ten nodded and smiled, then reached for both of her hands. "Are you ready then?"

Charlie took a moment to look around her…and then she smiled.

"I'm ready."

* * *

 **Beginnings**

When Charlie arrived in an empty house, she realized that Loki and Steve must've explained everything to the others, and they'd vacated the premises. And suddenly, Charlie knew exactly where she wanted to be.

A wide smile crossed her face, and she bounded down the stairs and out the door, taking a deep breath before she glitched…into conference room 12.

They didn't notice her right away. So she took a moment.

"Crowley's under SSE custody." Dean crossed his arms and turned to his brother. "Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah." Sam said dryly. "We're going to have to work for the government just to keep an eye on him."

"That's such a hardship." Cas rolled his eyes. "Benefits and a decent wage. I can see how that's a problem."

Tony tilted his head and eyed Cas speculatively. "You've got hidden sass." He observed. "I like it."

Steve snorted and pulled Tony away from Cas. "Ignore him." He advised. "The guy's insane."

"Look who's talking." Bucky snorted himself. "The guy that thought it would be a good idea to trust an extremely well known liar."

"Thank you." Loki looked up from where he was conversing with Sherlock, John and Thor to smile at Bucky. "I appreciate the compliment."

Bucky growled and turned to give Loki what-for, and that's when he caught sight of Charlie.

Charlie smiled and waved, and Bucky made his way over slowly. The rest of the room quieted when they saw what had distracted Bucky.

"Hey." Charlie greeted when Bucky was close enough. Bucky half-laughed, half-choked.

"You're back." He said unnecessarily, and Charlie's smile widened.

"I am." She agreed. When Bucky seemed lost for words, Charlie reached for his hands. "You really think I was gonna leave my best guy?" She teased, and Bucky shook his head ruefully.

"Yes." He admitted. "Your family-"

"Is right here in front of me." Charlie interrupted. "All of them." She quirked a smile. "This is my family. I found it all on my own." Her gaze moved to encompass the entire room. "It's….rather huge and stitched together, but it's still good." Charlie looked back to Bucky. "Yeah." She added. "Still good."

Bucky smiled in relief down at his wife, his whole world, and then chuckled. "You know what this means?" He said softly.

"I do." Tony rudely and purposefully interrupted the beautiful moment, and everyone turned to look at him. He raised his beer in toast.

"It means the Christmas parties are going to be INSANE."

* * *

 **A LOT happened in this chapter, but I didn't want to break it up.**

 **Did you really think Charlie was going to leave her best man? Yeah...me neither!**

 **Next chapter is...you guessed it...Christmas!**

 **Loki better bring a good present to apologize for his double-cross...am I right?**

 **~CLC~**


	18. It's a Wonderful Life

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

 **The Crowd**

"Whoa." Bucky paused in the Lair entryway, shocked at the amount of people crowded in the large living area.

"Babe!" Charlie rammed into Bucky's side and pulled him back into the hallway. "Everyone we invited showed up," She worried.

"Have they multiplied?" Bucky asked confused.

"Worse." Charlie shook her head. "They brought plus ones."

Bucky's cheek twitched, and his wife went from worried to irate in less than a second. "Is this funny to you?" She hissed, eyes narrowed. Bucky shook his head quickly, but the tick in his jaw twitched again, and Charlie growled and spun away.

"Hold on there, love of my life." Bucky pulled her back. "What's wrong with having a big crowd? We have the room, and we actually like these people."

"Yeah, in small doses." Charlie muttered angrily, though she allowed herself to be pulled close. "This is all of them at once, and they're staying overnight."

"It'll be fine." Bucky promised, leaning forward to kiss his wife.

"We'll see." Charlie let herself be kissed, then she smirked. "Oh, by the way, Loki's here." Bucky made a face.

"Wonderful." He bit out, and feeling better, Charlie pulled him back into the living room.

* * *

The first group they came across was all familiar faces; Bruce and John chatting amiably, Teddy perched happily on John's hip, Sherlock and Mycroft bickering softly. The group went silent and smiled as Bucky and Charlie joined them.

"Hey guys!" Charlie shot Sherlock and Mycroft a warning look, and they rolled their eyes. "Glad you could make it."

"Charlie." John greeted first, handing over a suddenly squirmy Teddy, who eagerly reached for his mom. Charlie took him with a small grunt. "Bucky." John shook Bucky's hand warmly. "How's the center doing tonight?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Illness stops for no holiday," he said ruefully. "The place is packed, but the staff are doing well."

John nodded in understanding, and turned to Bruce. "Dr. Banner was just telling me about the institute," He looked to Charlie. "Any interesting developments?"

"Some." Charlie grinned. "There are a few projects that Sherlock is helping with actually."

"Really?" Mycroft turned to his brother. "And how ARE you doing with this _visit,_ " Mycroft stressed, "to America?"

Sherlock scowled at his brother. "I'm enlightening the minds of many." He said slowly. "So my…trip, hasn't been entirely useless."

Mycroft scoffed and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"I can feel the love." She joked. "Dinner's in about ten minutes, don't kill each other till then." She raised a brow at the brothers and sent Bruce and John a smile before moving to the next group.

* * *

"Cas, Dean. Oh Cas," Charlie grimaced. "You brought your brothers….both of them."

"I can really feel the Christmas spirit," Gabe said dryly. "Keep it up."

Charlie shot him a snotty look, and turned slightly towards his husband. "Buck, you know Gabe, but this is Cas' other brother…Lucifer."

Lucifer smiled brightly and held out a hand, and Bucky raised his eyebrows but after a moment shook the angel's hand.

"It's a pleasure?" Bucky tried, and Lucifer grinned.

"That's the nicest greeting I've gotten all evening." He raised his glass. "It's an honor to meet Charlie's husband. You must be a great man to have caught the attention of such a stellar woman."

Bucky, despite himself, relaxed. "I consider myself more lucky and less worthy." He admitted.

Lucifer nodded in understanding, then turned bright eyes towards Teddy, who watched him curiously. "And who is this?"

"This is Teddy…" Charlie tucked her chin in to look at Teddy. "Teddy, say hi to Satan."

Teddy waved softly…then held out his hands.

Lucifer looked surprised, but pleased, and when he reached forward Charlie reluctantly handed her son over to the devil.

Teddy settled easily into Lucy's arms, and Charlie shot Cas a look.

"Is that safe?" She asked.

Cas shrugged. "Probably not." He admitted.

Charlie nodded. "Alright then. Hey Dean." She nudged the tall man who glowered at the two angels in front of him. "I can see you're just filled with the spirit of Christmas."

"I'll need to drink a lot more spirits before I get anywhere close to that," Dean said gruffly, but he smiled reluctantly. "How was your day?"

Charlie shrugged. "It was busy. Yours?"

"Filled with paperwork." Dean grimaced. "So; boring and my worst nightmare."

Charlie chuckled. "Where's your brother?" Dean lifted his head to see over the crowd. "He's this way." He pulled Charlie and Bucky away from the angels and led them towards where Sam stood, arm wrapped around a pretty woman and deep in discussion with Bobby and Ed Tucker.

"Enough about work." Charlie grimaced when she was close enough to overhear them. "It's Christmas, talk about something else!"

"Yeah." Sam shot a mock-disappointed face to Bobby and Tucker. "Shame on you?"

Bobby rolled his eyes and Tucker raised a brow, and Sam turned to Charlie with a grin. "Allow me to introduce you to my wife,"

"Gen!" Charlie smiled and grabbed the dark haired woman into a hug. "Long time no see."

"I know!" Gen rolled her eyes. "It's been a whole three days." Charlie grinned at Sam, who looked surprised.

"Charlie's the one who donated the funds we used to build the new station." Gen answered Sam's silent question, and Sam's eyes widened in understanding.

"Station?" Bucky furrowed his brows, and Gen smiled.

"I'm a fire fighter." She explained, and Bucky smirked. "I've been informed already why that's ironic." She rolled her eyes, and Charlie winked at Sam.

"Anyway…" Sam stressed, "When's dinner?"

"Soon." Charlie promised. "I just need to go check on my other child, and we should be about set."

Charlie waved and moved towards the next group.

* * *

"Why are you always so violent?!"

"I have a legitimate reason for wanting to shoot an arrow into his left pupil," Clint argued weakly, and the brunette he spoke to shook her head.

"It's a good reason, too." Tasha spoke up, leaning slightly against the tall man at her side.

"Like Charlie would let you," Loki scoffed, swaying slightly, Reagan laying her head against his cheek with a thumb in her mouth.

"I might." Charlie joined the group with smile, "if I knew what we were talking about."

"You'd let Clint shoot me in the eye with an arrow?" Loki sent Charlie a look of mock-hurt.

"Oh." Charlie tilted her head, then she shrugged. "I don't see why not." Loki huffed, and Charlie turned to the woman at Clint's side.

"You must be Laura." She guessed, and Clint nodded.

"Yes, Charlie, this is Laura, my beautiful wife. Laura, this is Charlie, my future boss, and her husband and," Clint looked through the crowd and pointedly spoke loudly, "MY best friend, Bucky."

"I heard that!" Steve hollered from the opposite corner of the Lair, "And we will have words, Barton!"

Clint grinned, and Charlie rolled her eyes. "They never grow up, do they?" She said ruefully, and Laura agreed with a laugh.

"I've heard so much about you," Laura smiled, "It's great to finally put a face to the name. And this is your daughter?"

"Yes!" Charlie turned to Reagan, who'd climbed from Loki's arms to Bucky's, and Reagan sent her a sleepy smile. "This is Reagan. Teddy is her twin, but he's with Satan now."

Laura's eyebrows lowered, and Charlie grimaced.

"My life is weird," she admitted.

"But blessed." Laura added.

Charlie nodded. "Yes." She agreed. "Very blessed." Charlie turned slightly. "Who's this guy?" She asked Tasha with a mock frown.

The man smirked. "I'm Ben," he introduced, holding out his hand. "I've also heard quite a bit about you, AND your organization."

"Ben is a teacher." Tasha explained, "At Devon Academy."

Charlie's smile widened. "Benjamin Davenport?"

Ben's eyes widened, but he nodded. "With your company and all the businesses you oversee, I'm surprised you know a lowly teacher's name."

"Don't get her started on that," Bucky advised with a grin. "She's pretty good at going off on a tangent about how people matter, not protocol."

Charlie smacked Bucky on the side, but she nodded in agreement. "It's true. But, I'll skip the tangent to say it's nice to formally have met you."

Ben nodded with a smile, and Charlie shot Tasha a look. Tasha rolled her eyes, but let a small grin loose.

Bucky engaged the two couples in conversation while Charlie turned to Loki.

"You're behaving yourself then?" She checked. Loki nodded seriously. "I am, I promise."

"And your brother?" She asked. Loki grimaced and jerked his head towards where Steve stood, Tony, Thor and their dates all conversing amiably.

"Avoiding him?" She guessed.

"Your merry band of soldiers has yet to forgive me for my latest indiscretion," He admitted. "I'm keeping myself alive."

"Well," Charlie began, "an actual apology wouldn't be remiss. Although if I'VE forgiven you…and I have." Loki smiled, "then they should be pretty close behind." Loki shrugged, and then raised an eyebrow, gaze looking over her head.

"Speaking of the devil, mine, not the other one," Loki teased, "I do believe he'd like to speak to you."

Charlie turned and saw Thor motioning her over, and she raised a finger and turned to Clint.

"Well, we'll speak with you later," she promised, pointing an accusing finger at him, "And we'll be talking about that whole future boss crack too."

Clint rolled his eyes.

"I'm so scared," He threw at her back.

"You should be!" She tossed over her shoulder as she moved towards Thor and his group, shaking her head ruefully.

"Thor." She greeted when she was close enough. "Jane." She nodded towards Thor's date, who grinned and raised her glass. "Tony." Charlie grimaced, though her face brightened when she saw his date. "Pepper!" She pulled the red-head into a hug. "It's been too long." She lamented, and Pepper nodded.

"It has." She agreed, turning to Reagan. "The last time I saw this one, she was just a little thing."

"Yeah." Charlie smiled at her baby girl, eyes closed as she leaned against her daddy. "She's a little bigger now."

"And tired." Bucky added. "She's about ready for bed, babe." Charlie nodded and patted Reagan's dark curls.

"I concur." She looked to Steve. "And how are you, traitor?"

Steve winced. "I've said, again and again, I thought I was doing the right thing at the time-" Charlie raised a hand with a frown.

"I wasn't talking to you." Steve made a face, and Charlie turned to the woman on Steve's arm. "I was talking to this beautiful woman who didn't tell me she was coming!" Charlie wrapped her arms around the woman and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry!" Elizabeth Case returned the hug. "I wanted to surprise you!"

Charlie shot a telling look Steve's way. "Consider me surprised." She joked, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes but beamed.

"I invited Liz a few days ago." Steve explained to Bucky, who'd simply watched Steve flush with a raised eyebrow. "It's not a big deal."

At Steve's voice so close to her, Reagan sat upright, eyes wide, and imperiously held her hands out.

Charlie looked at Bucky in surprise, who shrugged.

"I guess she has a new favorite," Charlie mused as Reagan moved into Steve's arms and smiled coyly at him.

"That's adorable." Liz said dryly, and Pepper and Jane cooed.

"Enough of that." Tony shook his head. "When's dinner, hostess lady?" He demanded, and Charlie looked at her husband.

Bucky nodded, and Charlie smiled.

"Dinner…is now."

* * *

 **The Future**

"Before we dig in, I would like to say a few words." Charlie smiled. "And I promise, I do only mean a few."

The conference table on the second floor of the lair was packed, and everyone chuckled.

"Every person at this table I've met entirely by chance. But I made them family by choice. At this table we have a wide range of people; friends and enemies, heroes and villains, human and hunters, aliens and angels. And me." Charlie rolled her eyes and that earned her a few chuckles as well. "Despite who we were, and what we'll be, at this moment, we're allies. We're friends…we're family." Charlie smiled, and her eyes brightened with tears. "And I couldn't be more proud to have all of you in my life." She added tightly, and Bucky reached forward to grasp her hand. She held it tightly and took a deep breathe.

"These next two weeks are going to speed by, and once they're gone, they take with them the end of an era, and we begin a new one. Before we eat, I'd like for all of us to go around the table and share what our dreams or plans are for this next year." Charlie sighed. "Mostly because Clint has a secret and I'm hoping he'll tell me what it is,"

"Hey!" Clint interrupted, and Charlie grinned. "But also because a few months ago I was worried that I was all out of dreams, I'd accomplished everything I'd wanted, what more was there? But then I realized that there's always another dream…for everyone." Charlie smiled at her husband. "So. I'll start." She grinned. "I will be continuing to run around in circles doing anything and everything I can to improve the world, and I will also be working on a new project…of which we'll speak more about later." Charlie winked and took a seat, and to her right, Bucky stood.

"I'd also like to say how glad I am that so many of you could make it." He began. "And I'll add that starting in January I will officially be in medical school."

"What?" Steve's eyes widened. "That's AWESOME Bucky, I didn't know you wanted to be a doctor?"

"I knew that." Clint smirked. "Which means he likes me better."

"Shut up." Steve rolled his eyes.

Clint opened his mouth to argue more, but went silent when his wife smacked him.

"Go, Bobby, before they decided to keep going," Bucky advised, and Bobby rolled his eyes.

"I'm being promoted." He said reluctantly. "Head Researcher, or something like that."

Tucker raised a glass. "I as well, heading the Field Agents."

"Which means you'll be my boss." Dean grimaced.

"And Bobby will be mine." Sam smiled brightly.

Gen looked to Charlie, and when Charlie nodded, she raised her own glass. "Just more fire, really."

"I'm a nurse and I homeschool three children." Laura smiled. "My life in a nutshell."

Charlie perked up. "You're a nurse?" She repeated. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"None of that." He protested. "My beautiful wife has already accepted a new job. You can't steal away someone who already works for you." Charlie grinned, and Laura shrugged.

"I'll start at the RDK center after the new year." Laura admitted.

"And I will be heading a division of my own." Clint grinned. "A freelance agency that Coulson still has to talk to someone about overseeing." Clint shot Charlie a look, and her eyebrows raised.

"Interesting…" She pondered with a smile. "Tash? Still with the Avengers?"

Tasha nodded. "Though New York is too busy to be our base…we're looking to move. Any advice?"

Charlie snickered and shook her head. "A few."

Ben was next. He listed Devon Academy, and after Ben, Bruce informed everyone about his acceptance onto the Kirk Institute's board, working with Jane, both of them working for Charlie. Thor would continue with the Avengers, as would Steve, Liz was opening her own law firm, Pepper was engaged and getting married (To Tony, of course,) Tony was retiring from the Avengers and focusing on the gadgets and inventions side of things, Lucifer spoke animatedly about a second flower shop, Cas rolled his eyes and talked about how he agreed to be on of Clint's freelance agents, Gabriel mentioned Vegas, Loki said nothing…(though he winked at Charlie,) Mycroft had pulled the "It's classified," and Sherlock, to everyone's surprise, informed everyone, (Mycroft,) that he would not be returning to England. Clint had agreed to take him on in his agency.

John smiled and shrugged, and no one was surprised as he announced about being content to continue on at the RDK center.

Charlie smiled once everyone had spoken. "Thank you for humoring me." She said simply. Then she clanged her knife and fork together. "Now let's eat!"

* * *

 **The Drinks**

After dinner the group had moved once more downstairs for after-dinner drinks, groups mingling and conversing easily with each other.

Tony had been in a rousing debate with Mycroft and Sam, Charlie appearing for a few minutes to add her two cents and then disappearing again when he reached for his drink and took a quick swallow. Just as quickly he spewed his drink out…all over Sam and Mycroft.

"Tony!" Charlie and Pepper simultaneously chastised. They shared a smile, then Pepper took over. "What is wrong with you?" She scolded.

Tony shook his head and held his glass far away from him. "This isn't my drink." He said after a moment.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Andy why do you say that?"

"It's….nonalcoholic," He grimaced as if that were the worst thing in the world. Steve and the other avengers snorted.

"So what?" Bucky shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"I was expecting alcohol." Tony shook his head. "Not…that. Who's is it anyway?"

Charlie stepped forward. "Sorry." She handed Tony the glass in her hand. "I accidentally walked off with your drink."

"So this is yours?" Tony held up the glass in HIS hand. Charlie nodded.

"Yes it is. Fancy a trade?" Tony nodded quickly, and the two switched.

"What are you drinking then?" Sherlock's eyes narrowed.

"Ginger ale?" Charlie turned slightly, looking for her husband, and Bucky appeared at her side a moment later.

"Ew." Dean grimaced. "Why?"

"Well it's often advised not to drink alcohol while pregnant." She shrugged as if the words coming out of her mouth hadn't just made the entire room freeze, and Bucky's eyes widened.

"You're what?" John blinked rapidly, trying to process. Charlie's mouth dropped open.

"Oh! Right, I haven't told you yet." She raised her voice. "I'm pregnant, by the way."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but he pulled his wife close to his side and nodded in response to the unasked question.

"We're pregnant." He agreed.

Clint was the first to hurry forward. "Whoo!" He pulled the couple into a large hug, and the rest of the crowd beamed.

"That's so exciting!" Steve was next in line, and John was next for Charlie, Bobby taking a moment to shake Bucky's hand.

"And how's our luck?" Tasha called out, raising her glass. "Are we doing it one at a time from here on out?"

Charlie and Bucky shared a look, and then they burst out laughing.

"We only believe in two for one specials." She shrugged, and Bucky chuckled lightly.

"Twins." He shrugged. "Again."

"How are you going to deal with four children?" Mycroft grimaced.

"I'm almost too old to watch one of your brats, let alone both of them. And you're having two more?" Bobby shook his head. "We'll have fun trying to keep up at least."

A throat clearing had everyone looking to Loki, who moved forward.

"I believe," he began slowly, "that is my cue."

Bucky's eyes narrowed. "Cue for what?" He asked suspiciously.

Loki smirked. "Christmas is the holiday of giving, yes? Well, I have something for all of you."

"What?" Thor stepped forward.

"What he said." Charlie added, crossing her arms. "What kind of gift?"

"The best gift of all," Loki promised. "The gift of time."

And Loki brought his hands together in one loud clap. Bright blue light exploded from his hands and filled the entire room, blinding everyone for a moment before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Charlie flinched, then whirled to look at the rest of her guests.

They "seemed" unharmed.

But Charlie needed to know for sure.

"What was that?!"

* * *

 **The Gift**

Thor strode forward to grab his brother, but Bucky grabbed Thor's arm and shook his head.

"I did no harm, I assure you." Loki promised, eyeing his brother cautiously.

"Ok. Maybe I buy that." Charlie pursed her lips. "I still want to know what that was."

"What did you mean by 'gift of time?' " Bruce asked.

"I simply altered the age of all of your inner organs and muscles." Loki answered innocently.

"And what does that mean?" Clint snapped, hands clasping his chest urgently. "Is my heart going to give out?!"

Loki made a face. "No, you buffoon!" He shook his head.

"Maybe explain in simpler terms," Thor advised, eyes bright. He knew what his brother had done…and he approved.

"All I did," Loki spoke slowly, condescendingly, "was deage you."

Dean's eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth, but Loki spoke over him. "Not outwardly," He continued with an eyeroll, "which is why you still look the same, but internally."

There was silence as everyone thought that through.

"Why?" Charlie asked bluntly.

Loki shrugged. "You've befriended many years older than you are; and with all I have put you through, I believe that you deserve to be surrounded by loved ones for as long as possible. So the rest of the individuals in this room are now technically the same age as you are."

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows. "So everyone here is 24?"

Loki inclined his head.

"I don't know if I like that." Bobby said gruffly.

"You have the stamina and health of your 24 year old self." Loki rephrased, and Bobby brightened.

"I do like that." He admitted.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I thought you would." He said dryly.

"And how can we know you did what you said?" Sam spoke up quickly. "How do we know you didn't curse us with something that won't show symptoms until later?"

"Yeah." Clint added. "How are we supposed to know if we can trust you?"

Loki shrugged. "you can't know any such thing with certainty at this moment. Only time will tell." He said frankly. Then he smiled and rolled his eyes. "But in the meantime, I wouldn't stress over it. Enjoy your newfound energy. Live your lives. Take advantage of the time you have and don't worry about when it will end." Loki turned to Charlie, who watched him ruefully. He winked.

"Be happy." He concluded, and after one last wink Charlie's way, he was gone.

Charlie turned to the group with a shrug, reaching for her husbands hand.

"Well." She said with a grin. "You heard the crazy man. Live your lives. Be happy. Her grin widened. "And I know just what to do next."

She pulled her husband close and stood on her tiptoes, and with a smile, Bucky wrapped an arm around her and leaned so that their lips could meet.

* * *

Maybe Loki was lying, and maybe he wasn't. Maybe Charlie had 80 more years with the family she'd chosen, or maybe she had five. But either way, she was going to take Loki's advice.

She was going to take advantage of the time she had, and enjoy being with the people around her.

After all the crazy-ness in the last five years, the next 80 or so should be a piece of cake.

* * *

 **I have author's notes, and one more epilogue, and then Charlie is DONE! (Or is she?)**

 **Which is the saddest news to ever sadden me, BUT! I have some other great news! TWO THINGS:**

 **1.) After the new year I will be reposting this entire series; but EDITED AND REVISED! It will hopefully be bigger and better, and more grammatically correct, lol. So, keep an eye out for that! AND...**

 **2.) I am posting starting TODAY...a new story that has something to do with all that nonsense Ten was spouting off about during last chapter. YAY! The new story is called SHIFT...and I'll give you a quick sneak peak now...Because I love you!**

 **But before that; I am so dearly blessed to have such great readers and have gotten such great love and feedback from all of you. I could not have finihsed this series without you; and I don't know if I would've wanted to! I really do love you all so much, and I hope you all Live Long and Prosper!**

 **Anyway...on to the sneak peek!**

* * *

 _""Everyone loves superheroes."_

 _"Well, not me." I shrugged. "I hate them." The man's face dropped, and his eyes brightened…._

 _Good Lord…was this man going to cry?_

 _The morning was looking up._

 _"The soldier guy sucks," I started listing off, "And the angry scientist is dumb, and…" I made a face. "Bows and arrows are stupid, aliens, even the hot ones, are dumb, chicks have cooties," I paused for emphasis, (and also because I couldn't remember who else was left,) and then it hit me. "And that suit guy!"_

 _"Iron Man?" The dude asked skeptically. I nodded._

 _"Yep, that guy." I nodded. "Totally hate him."_

 _"Tony Stark?" The man said again._

 _"Him too." I agreed. "I hate Tony Stark."_

 _And suddenly the flickering lights shut off completely, and people began to scream and shove each other, and I was shoved right off the side…and onto the tracks._

 _I braced for impact….but impact never came._

* * *

 **whoo! Again, the story is called SHIFT, and I'm excited about it!**

 **As always, LLAP,**

 **~CLC~**


End file.
